Vince received his B.A. degree in Bacteriology and Public Health from Wagner College in 1962, his M.S in Microbiology from Long Island University in 1967, and his Ph.D. degree in Microbiology from New York University School of Medicine in 1970. He conducted postdoctoral research at Rockefeller University with John Zabriskie and Emil Gotschlich and at Albert Einstein College of Medicine with Dr. Barry Bloom. He returned to Rockefeller in 1973 as an Assistant Professor in the Laboratory of Bacterial Pathogenesis and Immunology, was appointed Associate Professor in 1978 and Professor in 1990.