Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D. – Scientific Founder and Chief Science Officer
Dr. Laurencin has had several years of managerial experience in a variety of settings, and is currently the Dean of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and Vice President for Health Affairs at the University of Connecticut Health Center. Previously, Dr. Laurencin served as a University Professor, Professor and Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery and Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering at the University of Virginia.

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

After completing his doctoral programs, Dr. Laurencin continued clinical training at the Harvard University Orthopaedic Surgery Program, and ultimately became Chief Resident in Orthopaedic Surgery at the Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Simultaneously, he was an instructor in the Harvard–M.I.T. Division of Health Sciences and Technology, where he directed a biomaterials laboratory at M.I.T. Dr. Laurencin subsequently completed a clinical fellowship in Sports Medicine and Shoulder Surgery at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, working with the team physicians for the New York Mets, and St. John’s University in New York.
Board certified in orthopaedic surgery, Dr. 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 as an American British and Canadian Traveling Fellow, and has been an instructor in shoulder surgery at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery’s Orthopaedic Learning Center.

Dr. Laurencin’s research interests are in the areas of biomaterials, tissue engineering, drug delivery and nanotechnology. Honored at the White House, Dr. Laurencin received the Presidential Faculty Fellowship Award from President William Clinton in recognition of his research work involving biodegradable polymers. Dr. Laurencin is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and an International Fellow in Biomaterials Science and Engineering. He most recently received the William Grimes Award for Excellence in Chemical Engineering from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the Leadership in Technology Award from the New Millennium Foundation.  Also, Dr. Laurencin has been elected as a member of the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences for his professional achievement and commitment to service.

He has worked in the development and evaluation of number of orthopaedic products. In addition, he is responsible for work resulting in the commercialization of the first polymer based drug delivery system for the treatment of brain tumors, now called GliadelTM.

Mr. Joseph W. Reilly - President and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Reilly serves as our President and Chief Executive Officer.

Mr. Reilly is a proven CEO/Entrepreneur who has most recently been involved in a successful start up of a Biotech/Life Sciences company.  He possesses significant skills in strategy development and execution, planning, marketing, sales and operations with significant M&A and turnaround experience.

He is a startup specialist who served as President and CEO of a startup biotech company, Theranostics Health, which included technology spun out of George Mason University. The sales in this startup in its first year is expected to be several times higher than budgeted in its financing documents and the startup loss in that first year is expected to be about 40% of the loss forecasted in those documents.

Previously, he served as Managing Director of The Chatham Group, LLC where he advised numerous private equity firms and financial buyers on acquisitions of energy and infrastructure-related assets and companies.

He also served as the President and CEO of a market leading composite technologies company which designed, developed and marketed innovative composite products to the utility and telecommunications industries.  Previously, he was the President of a privately-owned international manufacturing business.
In the 1980’s, Mr. Reilly was an executive and investor in three Forstmann Little & Co. leveraged buyouts: Lear Seigler Corp., Midland Ross Corp. and F.L. Industries, having a combined transaction value in excess of $4 billion.

Mr. Reilly is a Certified Public Accountant.  He received a BS in Accounting and an MBA from St. John’s University and is the former Mayor of Chatham Township, New Jersey.

Mark Aronson, Ph.D. – Senior Scientist
Dr. Aronson is an independent contractor to STR. Dr. Aronson is currently an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Virginia, and has a long history in the development of fiber based technologies for commercial applications at the DuPont Company before joining the faculty at the University of Virginia. Dr. Aronson earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Virginia, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

Lakshmi Nair, Ph.D. – Senior Scientist
Dr. Nair is an independent contractor to STR. Dr. Nair is currently Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Virginia and is internationally known as an expert in biomaterial development and scaffold technology, especially as applied to biomedical purposes.