A book on the invisible threads of emotion that organize our lives
This book, written in the spirit of Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, combines memoir with an exploration of the role emotion plays in organizing our physiology, health, relationships, careers, culture and politics.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I grew up south of Buffalo in the small town of Derby, NY, the 8th of 9 children. I was the odd child out who spent summer vacations reading books and looking forward to school starting. I wrote my first play in 3rd grade (Addams Family Easter) and in my senior year of high school took 1st place at the New York State Science Congress with a short story titled Aeschylus.
I was a University Honors/Presidential Scholar at the University of Buffalo, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with a BA in psychology. I took 2 years off working at Harvard and Boston University conducting emotion research while also working as a counselor in a program for abused children. I did my graduate training at Rutgers University and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, studying emotions and health, graduating with a PhD in Clinical Health Psychology. I published my first book in 1990: The Insider’s Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology, with 10 editions selling more than 250,000 copies. I completed my clinical training in the Psychiatry Residency program at the University of California, San Francisco, followed by a 2-year fellowship at INSERM and CNRS in Marseille and Paris, conducting the first national study of HIV in injection drug users in France.
Upon returning to the US, I became an adjunct professor at NYU and Columbia Universities before taking a job as Director of HIV Epidemiology and Surveillance at the NYC Department of Health. Collaborating with Gay Men’s Health Crisis, my research made the front page of the New York Times with the largest study (>20,000 participants) of gay men ever conducted in New York. I also published my second book: Emotions - Current Issues and Future Directions.
I was recruited away from public health by Pfizer, which made me an offer I couldn’t refuse: economic lead for Celebrex/Bextra. I was quickly promoted to Lipitor and was part of the core team that made it the best-selling drug of all time. I spent the next two decades in biotech and biotech consulting and am currently a Senior Vice President at Slipstream IT, starting the first ever Digital Clinical Research Organization dedicated to the use of real-world evidence to help get drugs treating rare disease approved by the FDA. I have written more than 80 scientific articles, as well as popular press pieces on emotion, public health, economics, and drug development. In my spare time I’m the food critique for the Napa Register, authoring the column The Mayne Menu.
In my personal life, I have been a gay rights and AIDS activist for over 30 years, starting in the 1980s in ACT UP and currently leading local anti-hate initiatives in Napa, including the 2024 and 2025 Napa Day Against Hate. I’ve sung at major music venues across the country (Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Metropolitan Opera, Boston Symphony Hall, Disney Hall, SF Opera). I’m a recent graduate of Leadership Napa Valley and in 2025 we started Camp Camino, a summer camp for children who have experienced physical and sexual abuse.
I am married to the handsome and loving Cody Hart, and we are the proud parents of two miniature dachshunds, Franklin Shepard and Charley Kringas. We live in Brown’s Valley and are currently on our fourth vintage of Viognier, made from grapes we grow on our home vineyard.
LINKS
https://substack.com/@tracymayne?r=2bi5y7&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=profile
https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/video/same-sex-napa-couple-counter-neighbors-intolerance/