Irene Tracey

Irene Mary Carmel Tracey (born 30 October 1966) is Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford and former Warden of Merton College, Oxford.

She is also Professor of Anaesthetic Neuroscience in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences and formerly Pro-Vice-Chancellor (without portfolio) at the University of Oxford.

She is a co-founder of the Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB), now the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging.

Her team’s research is focused on the neuroscience of pain, specifically pain perception and analgesia as well as how anaesthetics produce altered states of consciousness.

Her team uses multidisciplinary approaches including neuroimaging.

Tracey was born at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford and educated at St. Thomas More R.C. Primary School and Gosford Hill School in Kidlington.

She completed her undergraduate and graduate studies at Merton College, Oxford in Biochemistry under the supervision of Eric Newsholme and George Radda.

She graduated with joint-top first class degree winning the Gibb’s Prize as an undergraduate and was a Wellcome Trust prize student and senior scholar at Merton College for her graduate work.

Her graduate research was supervised by Jeffrey F. Dunn and investigated the use of magnetic resonance imaging methods to study disease in humans.

As an early career researcher, Tracey held a postdoctoral position at Harvard Medical School, working at the MGH-NMR imaging centre (now Martinos) applying magnetic spectroscopy techniques to understand AIDS Dementia Complex.

During this period she became interested in pain, the research field she would eventually focus on.

Tracey returned to Oxford in 1997, where she helped to found the Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB), later renamed the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging; she served as its Director from 2005 until 2015.

She was appointed university lecturer in 2001 at the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics; during this time, she was also a tutor in medicine and Fellow of Christ Church.

Between 2007 and 2019, Tracey was Nuffield Chair in Anaesthetic Sciences and a Fellow of Pembroke College, where she is now an Honorary Fellow.

In 2008, Tracey was awarded the triennial Patrick Wall Medal from the Royal College of Anaesthetists and in 2009 was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Anaesthetists (FRCA) for her contributions to the discipline.

She won the Suffrage Science award in 2014.

In 2015 she was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) and in 2017 won the Feldberg Foundation prize, followed in 2018 by the British Neuroscience Association’s Outstanding Contribution to Neuroscience award.

In October 2016, she became Head of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences.

In October 2017, Tracey was announced as the next Warden of Merton College, in succession to Sir Martin Taylor.

She has created and presented two radio programmes about pain: From Agony to Analgesia, a two-episode BBC programme in 2017, and The Anatomy of Pain, a four-part, BBC Discovery series in 2018.

Tracey's work on pain has also featured in two BBC Horizon TV documentaries; a Science Museum exhibition in London; public lectures at DANA, the Oxford Museum of Natural History, and the Cheltenham Science Festival; and articles in New Scientist, BBC Science Focus, and Good Housekeeping.

The Lancet and The New Yorker have both run profiles of her.

She was installed as Warden on 5 October 2019, becoming the college’s 51st warden.

On 9 May 2022, it was announced that Tracey would be the next Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, with effect from 2023, in succession to Louise Richardson.

She said of her nomination: ‘I am deeply committed to growing Oxford's impact through supporting its ground-breaking discovery research, its excellence in teaching and its drive to create a global innovation powerhouse.’

Tracey has served on various scientific committees, including the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), British Neuroscience Association, and Lundbeck Brain Prize Committee.

She is a member of the Council of the Medical Research Council (MRC) and President of the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS).

She is a passionate advocate for women in science and, as Warden of Merton College, championed greater inclusion and diversity.

Tracey's research centers on investigating what she calls "the cerebral signature for pain perception" − how key regions of the human brain give rise to pain − and on developing objective, reliable, scientific ways of measuring what has always been considered a highly subjective experience.

In particular, Tracey and her colleagues have used fMRI brain scanning techniques to discover the various neural sites and mechanisms that underlie pain, to distinguish between the experience of pain and the anticipation of that experience, and to explore differences in how people experience the same pain in different ways at different times.

Her team has also investigated how pain-relief treatments can produce altered states of consciousness and how religious beliefs can affect and alleviate pain.

One key finding is that pain is complex and cognitive, and, in Tracey’s words, "sensitive to various mental processes such as the feelings and beliefs that someone has", so it doesn't arise exclusively from a single painful input, such as a pinprick or burn.

Her objective is to improve the understanding of chronic pain, its diagnosis, and treatment, partly through the development of more effective drugs.

She was interviewed by Jim Al-Khalili in April 2019 for BBC Radio 4’s The Life Scientific.

In 2020, Tracey was elected a member of the Academia Europaea (MAE), and in 2022 she was elected an honorary fellow of The Physiological Society.

In the 2022 New Year Honours List, Tracey was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for services to medical research.

She received her CBE from Charles III at Windsor Castle on 16 November 2022 during the first Investiture held by His Majesty following his Accession.

In 2023 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Tracey has published over 200 original papers; Semantic Scholar lists her as a contributor to over 400 publications including the following publications:

As part of her passion for public understanding of science, Tracey has made numerous media appearances, including on BBC Radio 4's All in the Mind.