6 April 2026

In loving memory of Dr. Russell P. Tracy, a brilliant scientist and cherished mentor whose decades of research into cardiovascular disease and inflammation have left a lasting mark on medicine and on everyone who had the privilege of working alongside him.

Biography

Russell Tracy, Ph.D. was a University Distinguished Professor of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine (PLM), and Biochemistry at the University of Vermont (UVM). Administratively, he served as Senior Associate Dean of Research and Academic Affairs of the Larner College of Medicine for over a decade. Since 1990, Dr. Tracy’s research focused on the molecular and genetic epidemiology of coagulation, fibrinolysis and inflammation, especially the innate and adaptive immune systems and their roles in the etiology of atherosclerosisand coronary heart disease, insulin resistance and diabetes, HIV-related morbidityand mortality, and other complex diseases, as well as more broadly in the process of aging. Continuously funded by NIH since 1984, Dr. Tracy was the founding Director of the Laboratory for Clinical Biochemistry Research (LCBR) at UVM. He was involved in many molecular and genetic epidemiological studies often as a member of the Steering Committee; including the NHLBI-funded Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS), the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), and Risk Underlying Rural Areas Longitudinal study (RURAL).

Before his passing, he was participating in large, multi-cohort genomic studies such as the Exome Sequencing Program (ESP) and the Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program and was the Vice-Chair, Steering Committee of the $170M Common Funded initiative to map the Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity (MoTrPAC).