By Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D.

In April, Dr. Lakshmi Nair was inducted into the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) at its 6th annual meeting in Boston. She is one of the youngest individuals to be elected to the NAI, and she is the third person (preceded by Dr. Pramod Srivastava and me) to be elected from UConn. Election to NAI Fellow status is the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society. Nominees must be a named inventor on patent(s) issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and must be affiliated with a university, non-profit research institute or other academic entity.

Dr. Nair’s novel research focuses on the development of new therapies using regenerative biomaterials to enhance tissue repair and regeneration, including innovative ways to regrow musculoskeletal tissue. She currently serves as a tenured associate professor of orthopedic surgery and is associate director for science administration at the Institute for Regenerative Engineering. In addition, she is also a faculty member of biomedical engineering, materials science and engineering at UConn.