Dr. Gershon’s interests for forty years have included the neurobiology, genetics and treatment of mental disorders, particularly major depression and bipolar disorder. He began his career in genetic epidemiology, creating new methods for family studies of disease. In recent years, Dr. Gershon has been examining genetic and chromosomal disorders and re-arrangements that can predispose people to psychiatric disorders. He is currently focused on chromosomal microdeletions and microduplications associated with brain and behavior disorders, particularly new mutations, which highly influence the risk of illness of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and autism.

Before joining the University of Chicago as chairman of the department of psychiatry, a post he held from 1998 to 2004, he was chief of the Clinical Neurogenetics Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).