Inductee Profile
Kevin Tracey
Dr. Tracey oversees The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, North Shore-LIJ's internationally recognized research entity. He is president and professor of the Elmezzi Graduate School of Molecular Medicine, an independently charted, degree-granting institution that confers the PhD degree to physicians pursuing careers in clinical and translational research.
A neurosurgeon by training, Dr. Tracey is a leader in the fields of immunology and neuroscience. He is credited with discovering how the brain controls the immune system's response to threat. This advance hinged on identifying the connection between the brain and the immune system through the vagus nerve, which has been called the most important nerve in the body. He has been involved in molecular target research and the preclinical and clinical development of numerous experimental and FDA-approved drugs.
Dr. Tracey co-chaired the first international scientific congress addressing "The
Inflammatory Reflex," a Nobel Symposium in 2004 of the Karolinska Institute, and
co-chaired the "First HMGB1 Cytokine World Congress" in 2003 in Saltsjobaden,
Sweden. He is editor-in chief of Molecular Medicine, and advisory editor of the
Journal of Experimental Medicine. The Institute for Scientific Information named
him a "Highly Cited Researcher in Immunology," placing him in the top 0.5% of all
publishing immunologists. Dr. Tracey was elected to the American Society of
Clinical Investigation in 2001.
His critically acclaimed book, Fatal Sequence: The Killer Within, published in 2005,
recounts the hospital course of a young patient with sepsis who changed his life,
and the series of remarkable events that shaped his research.
Dr. Tracey received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Boston College, and his
medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine. He completed his clinical
training in neurosurgery at The New York Hospital in 1992.