Patrick Sullivan

Patrick Sullivan, MD, is the Ray M. Hayworth & Family Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Genetics at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill, and a Professor at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. He leads the Center for Psychiatric Genomics and co-founded the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. His research focuses on the genetic basis of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, post-partum depression, and eating disorders, employing molecular genetics, epidemiology, and large-scale consortia. Sullivan has trained numerous post-doctoral researchers and maintains a lab with significant NIH and international funding.

Education:

• MD, University of California, San Francisco
• BS in Biology, University of Notre Dame

Research Interests: The Sullivan Lab integrates genetic, epidemiological, and clinical approaches to understand complex psychiatric disorders. Key areas include identifying genetic variants influencing disease etiology, pharmacogenetics of antipsychotics, and leveraging multi-country consortia to study shared genetic mechanisms across disorders. The lab emphasizes translational research to bridge genetic findings with clinical applications.

Publications & Awards: Sullivan has over 400 peer-reviewed publications (h-index 114) and received the Ming Tsuang Lifetime Achievement Award. Recent work highlights shared genetic variants across eight psychiatric disorders and the role of mitochondrial dysregulation in schizophrenia.

Grants & Collaborations: Primary funders include the NIH and Swedish Research Council. Sullivan splits time between UNC and Karolinska Institutet, fostering international collaborations. His lab engages in global initiatives like the Nordic OCD & Related Disorders Consortium and the Eating Disorders Genetics Initiative.

Labs & Teams: Based in UNC’s School of Medicine and Karolinska’s Psychiatric Genomics Institute. Collaborations span epidemiology, biostatistics, and computational biology. Key lab members include Dr. Jin Szatkiewicz (copy number variation in schizophrenia), Dr. Jim Crowley (obsessive-compulsive disorder genetics), and project manager Dr. NaEshia Ancalade.