The Connecticut Convergence Institute for Translation in Regenerative Engineering (CCI) at the University of Connecticut announces the selection of seven junior faculty members for its fourth cohort of Pre-K Career Development Award Scholars. The CCI Pre-K Program is a highly successful two-year, interactive program that equips junior faculty with the knowledge and competencies to obtain a NIH Research Career Development Award (K Award), and become leaders in clinical, basic and translational science.

Between 2014 and 2020, seven CCI Pre-K Scholars have received NIH K Awards.  Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D., CEO of the Connecticut Convergence Institute and Pre-K Program Founder and Director stated, “Increasing the number of researchers applying for NIH K and other awards is critical to the mission of the institute and results in increased collaboration and groundbreaking scientific discoveries. The success of the program has been amazing and points to the hard work of the staff and senior faculty at The Connecticut Convergence Institute, and most of all, our Pre-K Scholars.”

The primary goals of the Pre-K Program include developing skills to write a successful K Award grant application, promoting collaborative learning, and engaging an optimal mentorship team to support a successful research career. CCI Pre-K Scholars are awarded 30% protected time to conduct their research, attend bi-weekly program sessions, and prepare a competitive K Award grant application. “Developing a K Career Development Award application can be confusing and overwhelming for junior investigators,” said Dr. Lisa Barry of the UConn Health Center on Aging, who serves as a Co-Director of the program. “The Pre-K Program addresses these challenges by guiding scholars through each element of the application process, such as finding mentors and writing the career development plan.  Scholars also benefit by receiving feedback and support from a cohort of peers who are going through the same process.”

The following seven individuals comprise the fourth cohort of Pre-K Scholars since the program began in 2013.

• Loneke Blackman-Carr, PhD, Assistant Professor, UConn Department of Nutritional Sciences, Research Title: Development and Implementation of a Smartphone-Based Intervention for the Prevention of Weight Gain in Black Women
• Eileen Carter, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor, UConn School of Nursing, Research Title: Intra-Emergency Department Transmission of SARS-CoV-2
• Kristen Cooksey-Stowers, PhD, Assistant Professor, UConn Department of Allied Health Sciences, Research Title: Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Mixed-Methods Approach to Examine The Relationship Between Neighborhood Food Environments, Home Food Environments, and Preschool Children’s Food/ Beverage Intake
• Jennifer Garza, PhD, Assistant Professor, UConn Health, Department of Occupational Medicine, Research Title: The Effect of Occupational and Overall Activity During Pregnancy on Work and Maternal and Fetal Developmental Health Outcomes
• Oh Sung Kwon, PhD, Assistant Professor, UConn Department of Kinesiology, Research Title: Autophagy in Human Peripheral Blood Cells: Impact of Aging and Biomarker Role in Geroscience-Guided Clinical Interventions
• Kristen Morgan, PhD Assistant Professor, UConn Department of Biomedical Engineering, Research Title: Positive Neuromuscular Driven Gait Adaptation Post Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction
• Benjamin Ristau, MD, Assistant Professor, UConn Health, Department of Surgery, Research Title: Single Cell Transcriptome Investigation of Cellular Dysregulation in Bladder Carcinogenesis and the Application of Patient-Derived Organoids Towards Personalized Therapeutics

Eliane Dutra, DDS, MSD, PhD, a recent graduate of the Pre-K Program said, “The Pre-K Scholar Career Development Award Program has helped me to succeed in so many ways. From protecting my research time to guiding me in every single step of my KO1 application, the commitment of the program directors was invaluable in this whole challenging process. The interaction with other pre-K scholars has also helped to ease the struggles of grant application.”

In addition, Dr. Laurencin is pleased to announce the selection of a new Pre-K Co-Director, Bin Feng, PhD, Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering (BME), UConn. Dr. Feng is a NIH K Award recipient whose research is focused upon the sensory encoding and processing of the peripheral nervous system. Dr. Feng currently leads the Neuroengineering and Pain Research (NPR) lab at UConn BME, which is funded by research grants from the NIH and NSF. Particular interests of NPR are management of chronic pain, pain-related sensory information and aberrations, and translating scientific discoveries into next-generation neuromodulatory strategies and devices.

Dr. Feng commented, “I am thrilled to be on board as a Pre-K Co-Director and a member of the mentoring committee. The scientific and career development trainings I received from my NIH K01 award have been instrumental to my faculty career. I will be more than happy to share my experience with and perspective of NIH’s K Award program with the Pre-K Scholars. I look forward to fruitful interactions with the Pre-K Scholars and other committee members as they prepare K Award applications.”

Please visit our website to learn more about the Pre-K Scholar Career Development Award Program.

Dr. Laurencin was recently contacted by the President of the National Academy of Inventors requesting his commitment to serve on the 2020 – 2021 Board of Directors of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). NAI is a non-profit which recognizes and encourages inventors with patents issued from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, enhances the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encourages the disclosure of intellectual property, educates and mentors innovative students, and translates the inventions of its members to benefit society.

Dr. Laurencin is deep rooted in the Academy as he is currently a NAI Fellow and President of the UConn NAI Chapter. The NAI Fellows Program highlights academic inventors who have demonstrated a 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. Election to NAI Fellow is the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors.

Under the direction of Dr. Laurencin, the mission of the UConn Chapter of the National Academy of Inventors is to:

• Promote scientific innovation and inventorship across all disciplines in the UConn community
• Develop educational and mentorship programs around invention and inventorship
• Increase awareness regarding innovation and encourage the disclosure of intellectual property
• Drive engagement by bringing academia and industry together and
• Create a platform to share the lessons learned by the Uconn inventors and other research communities in CT

FARMINGTON, CT- On July 1, 2020, Dr. Cato T. Laurencin becomes President of the IMHOTEP Connecticut NMA Society, a community-based affiliated organization of the National Medical Association. The National Medical Association (NMA) represents the interests of Black Physicians and the patients that they serve.

“On behalf of the State of Connecticut, we are honored that Dr. Laurencin will now be the President of the IMHOTEP Connecticut NMA Society. His leadership in cutting-edge healthcare, science and engineering makes him a driving force for change.” says Senator Douglas McCrory, Deputy President Pro Tempore of the Connecticut state Senate.

Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D. is a designated University Professor at the University of Connecticut. He is the Albert and Wilda Van Dusen Distinguished Endowed Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery. He is the Chief Executive Officer of The Connecticut Convergence Institute for Translation in Regenerative Engineering at the University of Connecticut.

Dr. Laurencin earned a B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University, and his M.D., Magna Cum Laude, from the Harvard Medical School, and received the Robinson Award for Surgery. He earned his Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he was named a Hugh Hampton Young Fellow.

In Connecticut, he has been honored by the Urban League of Greater Hartford, the Hartford Public School System and the Connecticut State Legislature for his work in the community. He is an appointed member of the State of Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project Advisory Board and he currently serves as a Commissioner of Boxing for the State of Connecticut. Dr. Laurencin served as Dean of the Medical School and Vice President for Health Affairs at the University of Connecticut where he was the faculty leader of the state’s Bioscience Connecticut Initiative. He has been recognized as a Connecticut Health Care Hero by Connecticut Magazine.

Dr. Laurencin is active in mentoring, especially students of color. He received the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Mentor Award, the Beckman Award for Mentoring and the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Math and Engineering Mentoring in ceremonies at the White House. The Society for Biomaterials established The Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D. Travel Fellowship in his honor, awarded to underrepresented students of color pursuing research.

Dr. Laurencin is an expert in public health, especially as it pertains to racial and ethnic health and health disparities. He is a core faculty member of the Africana Studies Institute at the University of Connecticut, and is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, published by Springer Nature, the leading journal of the field.

Nationally, he co-Founded the W. Montague Cobb/NMA Health Institute, dedicated to addressing Health Disparities, and served as its Founding Chair. Dr. Laurencin served as a trustee of the National Medical Association for over 10 years, and served as Speaker of the House of Delegates for that organization. The W. Montague Cobb/NMA Health Institute and the National Medical Association established the Cato T. Laurencin Lifetime Research Achievement Award, given during the opening ceremonies of the National Medical Association Meeting.

Dr. Laurencin is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, and an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

 

Earlier this week members from the CT Convergence Institute’s JUMP Program, graduate students, and volunteers from the Urban League of Greater Hartford safely congregated outdoors (using proper social distancing and wearing masks) to assemble a year-round community garden of 12 new aeroponic garden towers. The CT Convergence Institute is partnering with the Urban League of Greater Hartford in an effort to reduce food insecurity throughout the city of Hartford, especially in the inner city, which has been traditionally considered a “food desert” due to a lack of healthy and affordable foods. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has only made the situation in Hartford worse.  In an effort to alleviate this crisis, the JUMP Program has geared its mission towards experiential nutrition education in an effort to reduce food insecurity by providing healthy food grown in the community garden and making it readily available to the city of Hartford.

Currently, there are 5 functioning aeroponic gardens located at the Parkville Senior Center and Parkville Elementary School in Hartford. Dr. Helen Wu, the leader of the JUMP Program was able to incorporate the scientific gardening elements in to the 5^th grade science curriculum of Parkville Elementary. Earlier this year, the students were able to enjoy the first crop of healthy vegetables that they grew on their very own.

The JUMP Program hopes to expand the mission even further in the very near future. If you are interested in learning more about how you can benefit from these aeroponic gardens, stay tuned for the next JUMP event which will focus on combating hunger and fostering healthy eating.

Tune in for a historic public workshop featuring world renowned experts in Science, Engineering and Medicine to examine the impact of COVID-19 on the Black Community. The workshop will examine various elements of COVID-19 that increases case numbers in Black communities and will also focus on addressing current and future challenges.  Provided by National Academies Roundtable, the united front strives to provide the building blocks necessary to form a resilient community.

Title: COVID-19 and Black Communities: Understanding the Landscape, Developing Ideas to Address the Challenges, and Building a Community of Action that includes Black Physicians, Black Engineers, and Black Scientists

When: June 23^rd from 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM EDT

How to join the Zoom workshop: Click here to register

Format:

9:30 AM EST   Opening Remarks, Introductions, and Workshop Goals

Victor Dzau, M.D.

President, National Academy of Medicine

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

Chair of the Roundtable

Mark Alexander, Ph.D. Camara P. Jones, M.D., M.P.H. Cora Marrett, Ph.D.

Co-Chairs of the COVID-19 Action Group

KEYNOTE SESSION: THE LANDSCAPE OF COVID19

Moderator: Hannah Valantine, M.D. Deputy Director, National Institutes of Health

10:00 AM    

Garry Gibbons, M.D., Director, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health

Richard E. Besser, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Garth Graham, M.D., MPH, President, Aetna Foundation

11:00 AM        Discussion with Roundtable Members

SESSION II: DISPROPORTIONATE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON BLACK COMMUNITIES

Moderator: Mark. Alexander, M.D., Treasurer, 100 Black Men of America

11:30 AM

Session Objective:

• To discuss why Black people are more likely to be infected with SARS-CoV-2, and why once infected, Black people are more likely to die from COVID-19.

Cyde Yancy, M.D., Professor of Cardiology, Northwestern University School of Medicine Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D., University Professor, University of Connecticut

Camara P. Jones, M.D., M.P.H., Senior Fellow, Morehouse School of Medicine

12:30 PM        Discussion with Roundtable Members

1:00 PM – 1:30 PM     Break for Lunch

SESSION III: EXPLORING VIEWS FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES ON COVID-19 INCLUDING TREATMENT AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

Moderator: Louis Sullivan, M.D., Former Secretary, Health and Human Services, President, The Sullivan Alliance

1:30 PM

Session Objectives:

• To understand the landscape of work being performed regarding COVID 19 at the National Academies
• To explore synergies between the Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine and other National Academy Initiatives
• Panel Group Presentations and Panel Discussion

Harvey Fineberg, M.D. Chair,  Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious

Diseases and 21st Century Health Threats

 

Cora Marrett, Ph.D. Advisory Committee Member,

Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education

Marsha McNutt, Ph.D., President, National Academy of Sciences

2:30 PM                      Discussion with Roundtable Members

SESSION IV: COMMUNITY RESPONSE AND COMMUNITY RESILIENCE

Moderator: Cedric Bright, M.D., Associate Dean, East Carolina University Medical School

3:00 PM

Session Objectives:

• To explore ongoing and new ideas for addressing COVID-19 in the Black Community
• To examine the role of Black Doctors, Scientists and Engineers in partnering with other in the Black Community to generate community response and community resilience.

Scot Esdaile, National Board Member, NAACP

Martha A. Dawson, DNP, RN, FACHE, President, National Black Nurses Association Gilda Barabino, Ph.D., President,  Olin College

Valerie Montgomery-Rice, M.D., President, Morehouse School of Medicine

4:00 PM          Discussion with Roundtable Members

4:30 PM          Wrap-up and Next Steps by Workshop Co-chairs

5:00 PM         Workshop Adjourned

On the evening of June 4^th, Dr. Laurencin participated in the UConn African American Cultural Center virtual town hall meeting as a panelist on the topic of “Racism and the COVID-19 Pandemic in the African American Community”. Amongst Dr. Laurencin were nine other panelists with a wide array of backgrounds who provided various perspectives on the discussion.

The UConn African American Cultural Center (AACC) was established in 1968 to support African Americans in all aspects of campus life. The AACC serves as a liaison to academic support departments and assists students in navigating the many resources of the University community such as residential life, the dean of student’s office, financial aid, and other student affairs departments.

On Friday, June 5^th Dr. Laurencin sponsored and participated in a webinar put on by the Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project titled “Truth and Reconciliation- A Conversation about Race and Policing”. For years, the killing of unarmed Black people has sparked calls for reform. The death of George Floyd by a white police officer has laid bare an open wound in our nation and inflicted additional trauma on people of color plagued by a history of institutionalized police violence and systemic racism. The protests erupting across the country demonstrate the urgency in which these issues still need to be addressed. The webinar enabled an open and honest discussion about policing and race relations in the state. Panelists discussed how to reconcile the past and explore ways to heal the community.

Dr. Laurencin serves on the Racial Profiling Prohibition Project Advisory Board. The advisory board was established (in 2012) for the purpose of advising the Office of Policy and Management with respect to the adoption and standardized methods and guidelines pursuant to Connecticut General Statute 54-1m. The advisory meets on a monthly basis and is open to the public.

 

Watch the forum here

Dr. Laurencin has been selected to receive the 2020 James E. Bailey award in Biological Engineering. The award is sponsored by the Society of Biological Engineering, and is presented to an individual who is a pioneer, a mentor, an innovator, an integrator of biology and engineering, a teacher, and whose achievements have provided a major impact to the field of biological engineering.

Dr. Laurencin will receive the award during the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ annual meeting in San Francisco, California. In addition to receiving the prestigious award, Dr. Laurencin will provide the James E. Bailey lecture titled Regenerative Engineering: The Present and Future of Tissue Regeneration.

Dr. Laurencin is the Founder of the Field of Regenerative Engineering. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Regenerative Engineering and Translational Medicine, and is the Founder and President of the Regenerative Engineering Society. Dr. Laurencin was named One of the 100 Engineers of the Modern Era by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He won the Percy Julian Medal, the highest award of the National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers.

Dr. Laurencin has been honored by the White House on three occasions. He received the Presidential Faculty Fellow Award from President Bill Clinton, the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Math and Engineering Mentoring from President Barack Obama, and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, America’s highest honor for technological achievement.

Dr. Laurencin is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine. He is the first to receive both the oldest/highest award from the National Academy of Engineering (the Simon Ramo Founder’s Award) and the oldest/highest award from the National Academy of Medicine (the Walsh McDermott Medal).

Dr. Laurencin is a designated University Professor at the University of Connecticut. He earned his B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University, his Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his M.D., Magna Cum Laude, from the Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Laurencin has recently been nominated and elected to become a Fellow of the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE). IAMBE fellowship represents individuals with outstanding contributions to and leadership in the field of medical and biological engineering. This elite group currently consists of approximately 150 leading scientists and researchers all over the world. Dr. Laurencin joins twenty-seven other individuals being elected into the class of 2020 AIMBE Fellows.

The virtual induction ceremony will take place on September 18^th during the Annual Event of IAMBE, held in conjunction with the Carnegie Mellon Forum on Biomedical Engineering in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.