Mary F. Brunette

Mary F. Brunette, MD is a Professor of Psychiatry, Professor of Community and Family Medicine, and Professor of The Dartmouth Institute at Dartmouth College's Geisel School of Medicine. She serves as Medical Director of the Bureau of Mental Health Services at the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services and holds several leadership positions including Co-Director of the Northern New England Post-Doctoral Primary Care Research Training Program and Co-Director of the Community Engaged Research Core at Dartmouth SYNERGY, CTSA. She also chairs the NH DHHS Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects and serves as Co-Investigator at the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health.

Dr. Brunette earned her BA from Lewis & Clark College in 1985 and her MD from Oregon Health Sciences University in 1991. Her research focuses on understanding addiction causes in vulnerable populations and developing effective treatment interventions through translational science approaches that integrate basic science, patient-oriented treatment, and population-based studies. She is also deeply engaged in public mental health administration, working to improve care for people with serious mental illness and multiple comorbidities.

Her publication record spans from 1997 to the present, with a concentration of recent work in 2024-2025. Her research trends show a strong focus on substance use disorders (particularly opioids and cannabis), mental health integration with primary care, smoking cessation for people with serious mental illness, and the intersection of mental health with criminal justice systems. Much of her recent work examines the implementation of integrated care models and the impact of policy changes on mental health outcomes.

Dr. Brunette leads several significant research initiatives including a trial using functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess cannabis impact on brain reward function in schizophrenia and implementation of integrated primary care and community mental health services. She is trained as an 'Entering Mentoring' Facilitator with a focus on increasing quality, equity, and inclusion in science mentoring.

Her grant portfolio includes major projects funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, National Institute on Drug Abuse, PCORI, and other federal agencies, focusing on ProHealth NH, cannabis and schizophrenia research, comparative effectiveness of integrated care for pregnant women with opioid use disorder, and payment system reforms to combat the opioid epidemic.