Science History Institute Announces 2026 Othmer Gold Medal, Bolte Award Winners

The Science History Institute is pleased to announce the winners of the 2026 Othmer Gold Medal and Richard J. Bolte Sr. Award for Supporting Industries. Given annually in recognition of exceptional achievements in chemistry, chemical engineering, life sciences, and allied fields and industries, this year’s awards will be presented at the Institute in Old City Philadelphia.

Sir Cato T. Laurencin, University Professor and the Albert and Wilda Van Dusen Distinguished Endowed Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Connecticut, will receive the Othmer Gold Medal, the Institute’s preeminent award. Named after noted chemical engineer and inventor Donald Othmer, this prestigious medal honors individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the material sciences. As the founder of the field of regenerative engineering, Laurencin was nominated for pioneering the novel use of polymeric biomaterials chemistry and engineering to treat musculoskeletal conditions and for helping improve the human condition.

The Richard J. Bolte Sr. Award for Supporting Industries will be presented to Joel S. Marcus, executive chairman and founder of life science real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities. The Bolte Award honors those who provide products or services vital to the continuing growth and development of the chemical and molecular sciences community. Marcus was chosen for driving positive change for the benefit of human health and society and his role in creating a best-in-class company whose unique mission is to create and grow life science ecosystems and clusters to advance human health.

“It is truly an honor to add these remarkable individuals to our storied list of award winners,” said Institute president and CEO David Cole. “You could look at each of their biographies and be duly impressed by their trailblazing careers, but they’re also being recognized for their tireless efforts as mentors in academia, entrepreneurship, and volunteer work.”

About Sir Cato T. Laurencin

Sir Cato T. Laurencin, MD, PhD, KCSL, SLMH, FREng is the recipient of the Science History Institute’s 2026 Othmer Gold Medal.

As University Professor at the University of Connecticut, Laurencin’s teaching fields include chemical and biomolecular engineering; materials science and engineering; and biomedical engineering. He is also the Albert and Wilda Van Dusen Distinguished Endowed Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and serves as chief executive officer of the Cato T. Laurencin Institute for Regenerative Engineering, an institute created and named in his honor.

He is one of the few individuals concurrently elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Inventors, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the first individual to receive both the Walsh McDermott Medal from the National Academy of Medicine and the Simon Ramo Founder’s Award from the National Academy of Engineering.

Laurencin, who pioneered the field of regenerative engineering, is an expert in nanochemistry, biomaterials science, stem cell sciences, and biophysics, and has worked in the convergence of these areas of research. In receiving the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP, he was named as the world’s foremost engineer-physician-scientist. His work spans fundamental basic science involving polymeric materials chemistry all the way to clinical trials and use to treat clinical problems. Laurencin’s versatile use of biomaterials in this area has resulted in an array of products that have improved the human condition.

Other top science awards include the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from the White House, the Priestley Medal from the American Chemical Society, the Von Hippel Award from the Materials Research Society, the Percy Julian Medal from the National Association of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers, and the Founders Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, which also created the Cato T. Laurencin Regenerative Engineering Founder’s Award in recognition of his breakthroughs in regenerative engineering worldwide. The American Association for the Advancement of Science awarded Laurencin the Philip Hauge Abelson Prize “for signal contributions to the advancement of science in the United States.”

Laurencin earned a BSE in chemical engineering from Princeton University, a PhD in biochemical engineering and biotechnology from MIT, and an MD from Harvard Medical School.

About Joel Marcus

Joel S. Marcus is the recipient of the Science History Institute’s 2026 Richard J. Bolte Sr. Award for Supporting Industries.

Marcus is the executive chairman and founder of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc., a leading real estate investment trust that pioneered life science real estate and transformed it from a specialty niche into a mainstream asset class. Prior to 2018, he served as the company’s chairman, CEO, and president.

Since cofounding Alexandria in 1994, Marcus has built a best-in-class company with a differentiated business model and a unique mission: to create and grow life science ecosystems and clusters to advance human health. To accomplish this, he established four verticals encompassing real estate, venture investments, thought leadership, and corporate responsibility.

Marcus founded and continues to lead Alexandria Venture Investments, which since its inception in 1996, has actively invested in life science companies that are advancing new modalities, platforms, and medicines to improve human health. In 2011 he established the Alexandria Summit, which convenes a network of visionaries to explore important issues facing human health and leverage its collective voice to foster collaborations and shape policy. Marcus also leads Alexandria’s corporate responsibility initiatives, which aim to combat some of the nation’s most urgent challenges, including disease, hunger, military member support services, educational disparities, and the mental health and addiction crises.

Newsweek named Alexandria one of America’s Most Trustworthy Companies for three consecutive years, one of the World’s Most Trustworthy Companies for two years in a row, and one of America’s Most Charitable Companies in 2025.

Marcus currently serves on the boards of the Navy SEAL Foundation, the Emily Krzyzewski Center, the National Medal of Honor Museum, and the TOPGUN Association. He is a former board member of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. His numerous honors include the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the Charles A. Sanders, MD, Partnership Award from the Foundation for National Institutes of Health, and the inaugural Bisnow Life Sciences Icon & Influencer Award. He was also named one of Real Estate Forum’s 2017 Best Bosses in commercial real estate.

Prior to cofounding Alexandria, Marcus had an extensive legal career specializing in corporate finance and capital markets, venture capital, and mergers and acquisitions. He was also a practicing certified public accountant and tax manager. 

Marcus received his undergraduate and JD degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles.