Rate My Professor Kevin Keay

Professor Kevin Keay is a Professor of Neuroscience and Chief Anatomist in the School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. He serves as Deputy Head of School (Acting), Theme Leader for Neuroscience, and Director of the Neuroscience Theme. Keay's research specializes in behavioral neuroscience, neurophysiology, neuroanatomy, and pain mechanisms, with a focus on the midbrain periaqueductal gray (PAG) and its role in emotional coping reactions, autonomic responses, fight-or-flight behaviors, and pain modulation. In the 1990s, he pioneered investigations into the columnar organization of the PAG and distinct neural circuits for active versus passive coping strategies during stress. His studies explore neuroimmune responses in chronic neuropathic pain, glial reactivity, sex-specific effects of nerve injury, placebo analgesia, nocebo hyperalgesia, and brainstem circuits in human pain processing using preclinical models, fMRI, and PET imaging.

Keay has built a distinguished career at the University of Sydney, previously serving as Head of the Discipline of Anatomy and Histology and Associate Professor. He has authored numerous influential publications, accumulating over 7,791 citations on Google Scholar and 7,030 on ResearchGate. Key works include 'Central circuits mediating patterned autonomic activity during active vs. passive emotional coping' (2000, Brain Research Bulletin, 764 citations), 'Parallel circuits mediating distinct emotional coping reactions to different types of stress' (2001, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 628 citations), 'Orbitomedial prefrontal cortical projections to distinct longitudinal columns of the periaqueductal gray in the rat' (2000, Journal of Comparative Neurology, 441 citations), and 'Immune cell involvement in dorsal root ganglia and spinal cord after chronic constriction or transection of the rat sciatic nerve' (2007, Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 356 citations). Recent publications address neuropeptide expression in neuroinflammation, TSPO imaging of gliosis in orofacial pain, and corticobrainstem connectivity in trigeminal neuropathy. Keay leads collaborative research funded by the Brain and Mind Centre and is Scientific Program Convenor for the Australian Pain Society 2025 Annual Scientific Meeting, advancing translational neuroscience in pain management.