Kevin J. Tracey

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. He discovered the fundamental molecular and neural mechanisms of how the brain and vagus nerve control inflammation in the peripheral immune system and translated these revolutionary basic discoveries into the first clinical trials for rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. His new paradigm revealed that specific neuronal circuits control innate immunity and launched a new scientific field termed “bioelectronic medicine.” 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 for seven years before moving in 1992 to The Feinstein Institutes.  An inventor on more than 120 United States patents, and author of more than 450 scientific publications, he cofounded the Global Sepsis Alliance, a non-profit organization supporting the efforts of over one million sepsis caregivers in more than 70 countries. As an entrepreneur, Dr. Tracey is the co-founder of several biotechnology companies, including SetPoint Medical, the industry leader in bioelectronic medicine for developing vagus nerve stimulation technology to treat rheumatoid arthritis.