Norman and Susan Fixel Chair in Neuroscience and Neurology, Co-Director of the Center for Translational Research in Neurodegenerative Disease, Investigator at the Evelyn F. and William L McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida.

Dr. Tansey is the Norman and Susan Fixel Chair in Neuroscience and Neurology and Co-Director of the Center for Translational Research in Neurodegenerative Disease and Investigator at the Evelyn F. and William L. McKnight Brain Institute at the University of Florida. Prior to joining the team at University of Florida, she served as a tenured professor of Physiology and Director of the Center for Neurodysfunction and Inflammation (CNI) at Emory University School of Medicine and a member of the Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (CND).  Her lab focuses on the role of inflammation and immune system responses in brain health and neurodegenerative disease with a long-term goal of developing better therapies to prevent and/or delay these diseases. 

Dr. Tansey was born in El Paso, Texas and obtained her B.S/M.S in Biological Sciences from Stanford University and her Ph.D. in Cell Regulation from UT Southwestern Graduate School in Dallas, Texas followed by post-doctoral work in neuroscience at Washington University. Prior to starting her academic career as an Assistant Professor of Physiology at UT Southwestern, she was head of Chemical Genetics at Xencor Inc. where she co-invented novel soluble TNF inhibitors that have now advanced to clinical trials in Alzheimer’s disease and COVID19.

Dr. Tansey is a fierce advocate for women and other under-represented groups in STEM and has earned several mentoring awards from students and faculty for her efforts in this area.