Kevin J. Tracey

Kevin J. Tracey is President and CEO of the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, a professor at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, and an Adjunct Professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. He also serves as Executive Vice President of Research at Northwell Health. His interdisciplinary work bridges neuroscience, immunology, and bioelectronic medicine, focusing on the neural control of inflammation.

Dr. Tracey received his BS in Chemistry from Boston College (1979) and his MD from Boston University (1983). He completed neurosurgery training at New York Hospital-Cornell University Medical Center and joined the Feinstein Institutes in 1992, where he has led the Laboratory of Biomedical Science and risen to top leadership roles.

His research centers on the molecular mechanisms of inflammation, particularly the discovery of the 'inflammatory reflex'—a neural circuit where the vagus nerve modulates immune responses via acetylcholine and the alpha-7 nicotinic receptor. This work laid the foundation for bioelectronic medicine, a field using neuromodulation to treat inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.

His recent publications reveal a consistent focus on neuroimmunology, HMGB1 signaling, and the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway. These studies have pioneered the understanding of how neural activity regulates cytokine release and immune homeostasis, leading to clinical trials of bioelectronic devices as alternatives to pharmaceuticals.

• Doctorate, honoris causa, University of Fribourg (2020)
• Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2020)
• Doctorate honoris causa, Karolinska Institute (2009)
• Highly Cited Researcher in Immunology (2005)
• Shock Society Scientific Achievement Award (2016)
• Sepsis Heroes Award (2015)

Dr. Tracey has advised numerous researchers and leads a large lab team at the Feinstein Institutes. He has secured extensive research funding and holds over 120 U.S. patents, reflecting his translational impact. He co-founded the Global Sepsis Alliance and is a sought-after speaker on inflammation and bioelectronic medicine.

His laboratory includes senior scientists such as Dr. Sangeeta Chavan, Dr. Huan Yang, and Dr. Valentin Pavlov, focusing on HMGB1 biology, neural-immune communication, and cholinergic regulation of inflammation. The team combines molecular, electrophysiological, and clinical approaches to advance bioelectronic therapies.