Laura B. Dunn, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Department of Psychiatry
University of California, San Diego
3350 La Jolla Village Drive, 116A-1
San Diego, CA 92161
Phone #: 858-642-1269
FAX #: 858-642-3425
E-mail: dunnlab@ucsd.edu

Biography 
Dr. Dunn is Assistant Professor in Residence in the Department of Psychiatry, Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Dunn graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, obtained her M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco, and completed her psychiatry residency as well as a fellowship in geriatric psychiatry at UCSD. Her research program is centered at the intersection of bioethics and psychiatric research. She is currently conducting studies relevant to a variety of ethical issues in neuropsychiatric research, including informed consent and decision-making capacity in schizophrenia and Alzheimer's Disease research. She is currently the Principal Investigator on grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and the Greenwall Foundation (http://www.greenwall.org/). She has published numerous articles on informed consent, decision-making capacity, and other ethical issues in research, and is the recipient of numerous honors both locally and nationally. For more information, please contact Dr. Dunn at: dunnlab@ucsd.edu
 

Research Focus 
Informed consent in patients with schizophrenia and other major mental illnesses 

Improving the process of informed consent to optimize research participants’ abilities to provide valid consent for research

Decision-making capacity in patients with mental illness

Research ethics

Geriatric psychiatry

Bereavement

Clinical Focus 
Geriatric psychiatry, including evaluation and management of older patients with a variety of mental disorders and life difficulties, including: cognitive impairment, dementia, behavioral disturbances, schizophrenia, mood and anxiety disorders (depression and bipolar disorder), anxiety, and bereavement, and comorbid psychiatric illnesses and medical conditions. 

Selected Publications 
Dunn, L.B.; and Roberts, L.W. Emerging findings in ethics of schizophrenia research. Current Opinion in Psychiatry. 18:111-119, 2005.

Dunn, L.B.; and Gordon, N.E. Improving informed consent and enhancing recruitment for research by understanding economic behavior. JAMA. 293:609-612, 2005.

Dunn, L.B., and Jeste, D.V. Enhancing informed consent for research and treatment. Neuropsychopharmacology, 24:595-607, 2001. 

Dunn, L.B.; Lindamer, L.A.; and Palmer, B.W. Schneiderman, L.J.; and Jeste, D.V. Enhancing comprehension of consent for research in older patients with psychosis: A randomized study of a novel consent procedure. American Journal of Psychiatry, 158:1911-1913, 2001. 

Dunn, L.B.; Lindamer, L.A.; Palmer, B.W.; Golshan, S.; Schneiderman, L.J.; and Jeste, D.V. Improving understanding of research consent in middle-aged and elderly patients with psychotic disorders. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 10:142-150, 2002.