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, Oxford. Between 2007 and 2019, Tracey was Nuffield Chair in Anaesthetic Sciences and a Fellow of
Pembroke College, Oxford, where she is now an Honorary Fellow. In October 2016, she became Head of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences. 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. In her early tenure, she addressed issues including free speech on campus and student welfare, emphasizing the university's commitment to supporting its academic community while responding to public debate and protest activity. In 2024, Tracey became involved in responding to the
occupation of Oxford University campus by pro-Palestinian protesters. In May of that year, a group of pro-Palestinian student protestors staged a demonstration in Tracey's office while she was there, which led to their arrest. Tracey has served on 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).
Research Tracey's research centres 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. and how religious beliefs can affect and alleviate pain. Her objective is to improve the understanding of chronic pain, its diagnosis, and treatment, partly through the development of more effective drugs. 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 2020, Tracey was elected a
Member of the Academia Europaea (MAE), and in 2022 she was elected an honorary fellow of
The Physiological Society. Tracey was appointed a
Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by
Queen Elizabeth II in the
2022 New Year Honours List 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 (FRS).
Publications Tracey has published over 200 original papers;
Semantic Scholar lists her as a contributor to over 400 publications including the following publications: •
Pain 2012 Refresher Courses: 14th World Congress on Pain •
Pain: A Ladybird Expert Book • ''Wall & Melzack's Textbook of Pain: Expert Consult'' •
Dissociating Pain from Its Anticipation in the Human Brain •
Exacerbation of Pain by Anxiety Is Associated with Activity in a Hippocampal Network •
Imaging how attention modulates pain in humans using functional MRI •
The Cerebral Signature for Pain Perception and Its Modulation •
A common neurobiology for pain and pleasure •
Neurocognitive aspects of pain perception Public engagement As part of her work to improve public understanding of science, Tracey has made media appearances, including on
BBC Radio 4's
All in the Mind. 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 also listed in
The Times’ Life Sciences Global Power List in 2020. Tracey presented a posthumous MPhil Anthropology degree certificate for Māori scholar
Mākereti Papakura to the latter's descendant June Northcroft Grant at the
Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford on 27 September 2025, saying it was “an honour to finally recognise Papakura’s influence as a scholar”. == Personal life ==