Kevin J Tracey, MD is President and CEO and the Karches Family Distinguished Chair in Medical Research at The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research; Professor of Neurosurgery and Molecular Medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra-Northwell; and Executive Vice President, Research, at Northwell Health, in New York. A leader in the scientific fields of neuroimmunology and bioelectronic medicine, his contributions include discovery and molecular mapping of reflex neural circuits controlling immunity and identifying the direct therapeutic action of monoclonal anti-TNF antibodies. Professor Tracey received his B.S. (Chemistry, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from Boston College in 1979, and his M.D. from Boston University in 1983. He trained in neurosurgery from 1983 to 1992 at the New York Hospital-Cornell University Medical Center and was a guest investigator at the Rockefeller University before moving in 1992 to The Feinstein Institutes. An inventor on >120 United States patents, and author of more than 400 scientific publications, he cofounded the Global Sepsis Alliance, a non-profit organization supporting the efforts of >1 million sepsis caregivers in more than 70 countries. Dr. Tracey is co-founder of several biotechnology companies, including SetPoint Medical, which licensed his patents to develop a first-in-class FDA-approved vagus nerve stimulation technology to treat rheumatoid arthritis. Tracey’s honors and awards include the Hans Wigzell Research Foundation Science Prize, and Doctorates honoris causa from the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden; from Hofstra University, New York, and from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Boston University; and delivered the Harvey Society lecture in New York, as well as lectureships from Harvard, Yale, Rockefeller University, the NIH, and elsewhere. He was elected into the American Society of Clinical Investigation (2001), the American Association of Physicians (2009), the Long Island Technology Hall of Fame (2012), Alpha Omega Alpha (2014), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2014), the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2020), and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) (2024), and the National Academy of Inventors (2025). Professor Tracey is a TedMed speaker and author of Fatal Sequence (Dana Press) and The Great Nerve (Avery). He has mentored hundreds of postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and high school, college, and medical students. A published (PMID: 31404057) independent assessment of citations and h-indexes of active scientists (some 7 million) ranked his impact in the top 0.01% worldwide. He lectures nationally and internationally on inflammation, the neuroscience of immunity, and bioelectronic medicine.
Presentation
"Vagus Nerves,” Reflexes, and Inflammation
Pre-recorded available on March 19 at 6:00 PM EDT, until 3/21 at 11:59 PM EDT
