Dr. Bunney focuses on psychobiological studies of bipolar disorder, major depressive disorders and schizophrenia. Such studies include investigations of the efficacy and mode of psychiatric medications’ action, brain imaging, molecular genetics, neuropathology, brain circuitry and circadian abnormalities that may relate to major psychiatric disorders. He is among the leaders in the field collaborating in a multi-site program applying microarray technology. This technology allows researchers seeking to identify risk genes to study thousands of genes at a time in a single experiment.

Former Chairman of Psychiatry at the University of California, Irvine, and former Director of the Division of Narcotic Addiction and Drug Abuse at the National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Bunney also served on the task force which led to the first FDA approval of lithium for the treatment of mood disorders.