My research interests have centered on two central themes that complement one another by focusing on basic and clinical research on the neurobiology of aggression. My basic science research has focused on identifying and characterizing the strengths of the different neural systems that modulate aggressive behavior and determine how pharmacologic influences and social stress and alter the development — thus the strength — of these neural units, effectively altering aggression.

My clinical research has focused on classifying aggression in youth, then identifying novel biological markers of aggressive behavior in this same population. Unfortunately, psychiatry has not yet been able to benefit from advances in the neurobiological study of aggression in animals because of a lack of cross-disciplinary and collaborative clinical and basic research. This combined approach to the study of aggression fosters collaborative research in this important arena and is a necessary first step in the eventual development of more scientifically based clinical and pharmacological treatment plans for aggression.