J. Kathleen (Kate) Tracy, Ph.D., has been appointed as senior associate dean for research and professor of medicine at the Larner College of Medicine and director of research at the UVM Health Network. She will begin her new role in February 2023.
J. Kathleen Tracy, Ph.D. (Courtesy photo)
Richard L. Page, M.D., dean of The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, has announced the appointment of J. Kathleen (Kate) Tracy, Ph.D., as senior associate dean for research. Tracy will also serve as professor of medicine at the Larner College of Medicine and director of research at the UVM Health Network. She will begin her new role in February 2023.
Tracy comes to Vermont from the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMB-SOM), where she is a professor of epidemiology and public health, vice chair for research services, epidemiology and public health, and head of the Division of Preventive Medicine. She has been a member of the UMB-SOM faculty since 2004, with secondary appointments in the UMB-SOM Department of Medicine and the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Public Health at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
Since 2010 Tracy has been director of the UMB-SOM Clinical and Translational Research Informatics Center. From 2017 to 2020 she was the inaugural director of the Richard and Jane Sherman Center for Health Care Innovation, a UMB center formed to foster cross-campus research and education collaborations related to health care innovations. Since 2020 she has also been special advisor to the senior vice chancellor for academic and student affairs of the University System of Maryland (USM), and in this position has been responsible for providing broad oversight, expertise and leadership to USM campuses’ and regional centers’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tracy holds a doctorate in clinical and health psychology from the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
A scientist with deep expertise in women’s health, with a concentration on cervical cancer prevention in underserved populations, and informatics methods to support multi-disciplinary team science, Tracy has published nearly 100 peer-reviewed articles in a variety of fields. Engaged in numerous interdisciplinary collaborations, she has been principal or co-principal investigator or sub-team lead on research studies totaling nearly $100 million in funding from such organizations as the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Tracy to our College and UVM” said Dean Richard L. Page, M.D. “She brings extensive experience in science and leadership that will complement our existing strengths and will provide for growth of our research impact. We especially look forward to expansion of clinical investigation in the UVM Health Network in her role as director of research for the Network.”
Tracy succeeds Gordon L. Jensen, M.D., Ph.D., who retired as the Larner College of Medicine’s senior associate dean for research in July. Richard Galbraith, M.D., Ph.D., has served as interim since Jensen’s retirement.