Tracy Bale, PhD

Tracy L. Bale is the Anschutz Foundation Endowed Chair in Women’s Integrated Mental and Physical Health Research at the Ludeman Center, Professor and Director for InterGenerational Stress and Health, and the Director for Sex Differences Research in the Department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine at the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Washington in the Department of Pharmacology and her postdoctoral work at the Salk Institute with Dr. Wylie Vale. Dr. Bale was a Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania for 15 years prior to her move to the University of Maryland, Baltimore, where she was recruited to develop the Center for Epigenetics Research in Child Health and Brain Development in 2017.

Her research focuses on understanding the role of stress dysregulation in neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric diseases and the sex differences that underlie disease vulnerability in humans using the mouse as a preclinical model. She is interested in stress and adversity across the lifespan, including examining the effects at the germ cell level and the mechanisms involved in altering brain development. Dr. Bale’s lab examines these mechanisms, attempting to translate research findings to humans to identify those processes and biomarkers important for promoting disease risk and resilience, especially in vulnerable populations.

In her Directorship roles, Dr. Bale works to engage in the community, developing collaborations and partnerships with local organizations, health officials, social workers, and policymakers. In a translational approach, Dr. Bale brings neuroscience research and outcomes into the community. Partnering with local government, schools and staff, families, and community leaders, Dr. Bale’s approach provides a lens through which policy, education, and community can be viewed, focusing on the lasting and significant effects across generations of trauma, discrimination, and violence.

She serves on many internal and external advisory committees, panels, and boards, including the NIMH Board of Scientific Counselors, and has been the recipient of numerous awards for her research, including the Richard E. Weitzman Memorial award from the Endocrine Society, the Medtronic Award from the Society for Women’s Health Research, and the Daniel H. Efron award from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. She is the President of the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) and was awarded Top 100 Women in Maryland 2020.