Dr. Cato Laurencin Named Recipient of 2020 Herbert W. Nickens Award
By Samantha Bertolino
Cato Laurencin at his office at UConn Health in Farmington. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)
University Professor Cato T. Laurencin, MD, PhD, has distinguished himself throughout his 40-year career as an outstanding physician-scientist and a courageous leader in social justice, equity and fairness.
Through his combined national, regional and community efforts, Dr. Laurencin has worked towards reversing racial and ethnic health disparities in medicine and science. He co-founded the W. Montague Cobb/National Medical Association Health Institute, which works to address such health disparities. Dr. Laurencin was also among the first to publish a peer-reviewed article on COVID-19 and black Americans, and is the founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, now in its seventh year. He worked with the Young Innovative Investigator Program for Black and Latino students, and the UConn Presidential M-1 Mentoring Program, where he mentored over 200 scientists- and physicians- in-training. Throughout these mentorships, Dr. Laurencin helped to guide individuals underrepresented in medicine, and worked to found several programs and initiatives improving diversity in the sciences. He has been recognized for his great work in medicine and the sciences throughout the years, and most recently has been the recipient of 2020 Herbert W. Nickens Award.
The Herbert W. Nickens Award is given to individuals who have made significant contributions to promoting justice in medical education and health care equity in the United States. The awardee has the opportunity to present the Nickens Lecture on November 18th in a virtual setting at Learn Serve Lead 2021: The AAMC Annual Meeting.
Published: November 16, 2020
Categories: awards, faculty, news, UConn Health
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