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Cato Laurencin is currently professor, surgeon, Dean of the University of Connecticut, School of Medicine and the Vice President for Health Affairs at the University of Connecticut. During Dr. Laurencin’s tenure at the University of Virginia, he served as Lillian T. Pratt Distinguished Professor and Chairman of Orthopedic Surgery and Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Professor of Chemical Engineering. In the 18 years that Dr. Laurencin’s laboratory has been in operation, over 85 underrepresented minority students at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate levels have undertaken research projects in the lab, with over 20 students completing graduate or post-graduate degrees, award presentations and honors research theses. An integral part of the Dr. Laurencin’s mentoring activities is the inclusion of underrepresented minority students at the undergraduate and graduate levels as well as students, post-docs and faculty across a wide spectrum of disciplines.