Dr. Cato Laurencin, chair of the University of Virginia’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and professor of biomedical engineering and chemical engineering at U.Va., has received the Clemson Award for Contributions to the Literature from the Society for Biomaterials for his work in engineering science. Board certified in orthopaedic surgery, Laurencin is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. He has lectured throughout the world in the areas of shoulder surgery and biomaterials science and has been an instructor in shoulder surgery at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery’s Orthopaedic Learning Center. Full story.

U.Va. Health System

The University of Virginia on Monday officially joined the Virginia-Nebraska Alliance, a partnership between colleges in the two states that was created to expand the ranks of minority health professionals and researchers nationwide. This program is the newest addition to a number of U.Va. programs, including separate initiatives in the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing, that aim to increase student and faculty diversity and to address “areas of concern for all sorts of underserved populations,” said U.Va. President John T. Casteen III (right), shown with state senator Benjamin J. Lambert III (left) and Dr. Louis W. Sullivan (center), chairman of the alliance, at a signing ceremony in the Rotunda Dome Room. Full story.

U.Va. News Services/Photo: Dan Addison