Profile

Tracy D. Gunter

Professor Clinical Psychiatry, Division of Forensic Psychiatry,
Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine
Adjunct Professor, IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law

Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law
Lawrence W. Inlow Hall, Room 227P
530 W. New York Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3225

Phone: (317) 963-7300
E-Mail: tdgunter@iu.edu

Education

Baccalauerus Artium et Scientiae, 1985, University of South Carolina
M.D., 1990, University of South Carolina School of Medicine

Courses

Neuroscience and Law

Bio

Dr. Gunter is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry in Indiana University’s Department of Psychiatry, and Adjunct Professor at the Indiana University McKinney School of Law where she teaches Neuroscience and Law. She is board-certified in general and forensic psychiatry. She earned her medical degree from the University of South Carolina, where she also completed forensic psychiatry training. She was Director of the Forensic Evaluation Service for the SC Department of Mental Health. She received the University of South Carolina Neuropsychiatry Department Chairman’s Excellence Award for her work in forensic psychiatry.

She then became Director of Forensic Psychiatry at the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine in 2003 and was a frequent national and international speaker in mental health and law. During her time at Saint Louis University, as Associate Professor of Psychiatry in Law, she developed a mental health law curriculum for the St. Louis University School of Law and participated in Health Law Scholars Workshops. Her interest in problem solving courts resulted in interdisciplinary collaborations with professors of social work, criminal justice, and law working on a grant examining mental health courts in Missouri.

As a clinician, Dr. Gunter has been named in “Best Doctors in America” for several years. She has consulted on over 1500 cases in criminal and civil litigation, including probate and employment matters. Her long-term goal is to develop a multidisciplinary center devoted to education, research, and service in the area of mental health and neuro law. ("Knowledge of Neuroscience Practices Can Help Lawyers Better Advocate for Clients," July 2012)

Publications

Books and Chapters

• * Behavioral Genetics in Antisocial Spectrum Disorders with Particular Attention to Epigenetics. With Seth Judd, DO. In International Handbook of Psychopathic Disorders and the Law (2 ed), Wiley Blackwell Press, edited by Alan Felthous and Henning Sass.
• * Physician Impairment and Safety to Practice Medicine, Chapter 5 in Physician Mental Health and Well-Being: Research and Practice Springer Press, edited by Kirk Brower and Michelle Riba. Target audience is physicians and those credentialing and managing physicians.
• * Behavioral genetics of antisocial behavior. Chapter 11 in M. Delisi and M. Vaughn (Eds), The Routledge Handbook of Biosocial Criminology, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, London, 2015. Target audiences include medical providers, researchers and non-medical providers serving correctional populations.

Law Review and Journal Articles

• * Terry, N.P. & Gunter, T.D. (2018). Regulating mobile mental health apps. Behav Sci Law 36(2): 136-144
• * Gunter, T. D. (2018). Brain themed self help and the health care provider in the United States, Behav Sci Law 36(2): 145-156.
• * Physician death by suicide: Problems seeking stakeholder solutions. Archives of Depression and Anxiety 2(1): 020-025. Available open access on line and at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2761854
• Prescription drugs and neurocognitive enhancement: Use, science and policy. Indiana Health Law Review 12(2): 730-768. Invited manuscript from CLE symposium.
• * Gunter, T.D. & Philbert, R.A.. Smoking, methylation at AHRR, and recidivism risk in a community corrections sample of individuals at high risk for recidivism. Behavioral Sciences and the Law 33(5): 691-700.
• Can We Trust Consumers with Their Brains? Indiana Health Law Review. 11; 483. Invited manuscript from Continuing Legal Education symposium
• * Gunter, T.D., Chibnall, J., Antoniak, S.K., Philibert, R.A., Black, D.W. (2013): Childhood trauma, traumatic brain injury, and mental health disorders associated with suicidal ideation and suicide related behavior in a community corrections sample. Journal American Academy Psychiatry and Law 41(2)
• * Gunter, T.D., Chibnall, J., Antoniak, S.K., McCormick, B., Black, D.W. (2012): Relative contributions of gender and traumatic life experience in the prediction of mental disorders in a sample of incarcerated offenders. Behavioral Sciences & the Law 30 (5); 615–630
• * Gunter, T.D., Chibnall, J., Antoniak, S.K. (2011): Predictors of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and non lethal self harm in a community corrections sample. Journal of Criminal Justice 39(3); 238-245
• * Beach, S.R.H., Brody, G.H. Todorov, A.A., Gunter, T.D., Philibert, R.A. (2010). Methylation at 5HTT mediates the Impact of child sex abuse on women’s antisocial behavior: An examination of the Iowa adoptee sample. Psychosomatic Medicine 73(1); 83-87
• * Kaustubh, J., Frierson, R., Gunter, T.D. (2006): Shared psychotic disorder and criminal responsibility: a review and case report of folie à trois. Journal American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 34(4); 511-518

Presentations

• Correctional Psychiatry. American Academy of Clinical Psychiatrists Psychiatry Update: Solving Clinical Challenges, Improving Patient Care, Las Vegas, NV
• Legal Issues in the Practice of Clinical Psychiatry. American Academy of Clinical Psychiatrists Psychiatry Update: Solving Clinical Challenges, Improving Patient Care. Las Vegas, NV
• Legal Issues in the Practice of Clinical Psychiatry. American Academy of Clinical Psychiatrists Psychiatry Update: Solving Clinical Challenges, Improving Patient Care, Chicago, IL
• Correctional Psychiatry. American Academy of Clinical Psychiatrists Psychiatry Update: Solving Clinical Challenges, Improving Patient Care, Chicago, IL
• Epigenetic Quantification of Alcohol Use: Implications for Problem Solving Courts. XXXVth International Congress on Law and Mental Health, Prague
• Brain-themed consumer devices as a threat to the doctor-patient relationship? XXXVth International Congress on Law and Mental Health, Prague
• Psychiatry and Brain Injury. Traumatic Brain Injury Cases. Presented by Indiana Continuing Legal Education Forum
• How can the humanities promote physician wellness integral to the social contract? With Drs. Erwin and Tansey at the 4th Annual Meeting of the Association for Professionalism in Healthcare. Chicago, IL
• Understanding and Intervening in the Problem of Physician Death By Suicide: Individual Risk Factor Management and Beyond. Current Topics in Health Care sponsored by Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, Carilion Clinic, Office of Continuing Professional Development. Roanoke, VA.
• Working with Older Adults at Greater Risk for Incapacity. Indiana Secretary of State Securities Division’s Investment Advisor Fall Conference. Indianapolis, IN
• Ethics and What Every Lawyer Should Know About Alzheimer’s Disease & Other Dementias. Indiana Continuing Legal Education Forum’s Elder Law Institute. Indianapolis, IN
• Aging and the Challenges of Law: It’s Not All Bad News. Annual Meeting of the Indiana Judicial Conference.
• Genetic Exceptionalism and Mental Health Courts. Paper presenter. XXXIV International Congress on Law and Mental Health. Vienna.
• Smoking, Methylation and Recidivism Risk in Corrections. American Academy of Psychiatry and Law 2014 Annual Meeting. Chicago, Illinois
• “Behavioral Genetics in Aggression and Violence: Focus on MAOA” for 2013 GETEd Conference of the Personal Genome Education Project. Boston, Massachusetts.
• Neuroscience, Popular Culture, and Consumerism in Healthcare. Indiana Health Law Review Symposium Are We Willing to Trust Patients? Models of Responsibility, Consumerism, and Blame.
• "Brains, Popular Culture, Healthcare and the Physician." 53rd Annual Meeting of the American College of Legal Medicine, Las Vegas, NV
• Social Media in the Practice of Forensic Psychiatry Evaluation and Management. XXXIII International Congress on Law and Mental Health. Amsterdam. July 16
• Neuroscience and the Rhetoric of Responsibility. In Health Care, Health Law, and Rhetoric. Southeastern Association of Law Schools. Amelia Island, FL.
• “Behavioral Genetics Enters the Courtroom: Understanding Genetic Contributors to ASPD in the Legal Arena” and “International Perspectives on Psychiatry Advance Directives” 32nd Congress International Academy of Law and Mental Health, Berlin.
• “Legal, Ethical, and Medical Perspectives on Psychiatric Advance Directives” in Current Issues in Mental Health Law. Southeastern Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting, Hilton Head, SC
• “Research & Genetics in Behavioral Disorders.” A session for judges, presented at the 2011 Judicial Conference, Scottsdale, AZ
• “Biological Bases of Psychopathy – A Judge’s Guide.” Sentencing Conference for Missouri Judges. Lake of Ozarks, MO
• “Behavioral Genetics and Antisocial Spectrum Disorders: The Long and Winding Road from Genes to Behavior.” Genomics, Medicine, and Discrimination: Second Decade Genetic Technologies’ Entry into American Courthouses. National Leadership Judges’ Science School. Sponsored by ASTAR (Advanced Science and Technology Adjudication Center) and The National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH. Bethesda, MD

Other Activities

• Research Review Committee Member, Sixth Judicial District, Community Corrections Office, Cedar Rapids, Iowa (2008-present)
• Physician Suicide Prevention Fund, Indiana University Foundation, January 2015-June 30, 2016. As principal investigator, I devised and piloted a peer support program for physicians, identified and disseminated local resources, conducted research and prepared a grant application in physician wellness, and have two publications. Medicine has been the deadliest profession for decades and this project provides a unique and greatly needed service to the profession by identifying barriers to physician wellness and piloting new programs. Partially in response to these efforts, both the Indiana Psychiatric Society and the American Medical Women’s Association now have physician suicide prevention committees and initiatives.
• *Consultant, R43, PI: Osborn. Project: Using DNA Methylation to Determine Recent Alcohol Consumption Patterns. Institute: BEHAVIORAL DIAGNOSTICS
• Saint Louis University President’s Research Fund Recipient; Do Structural Rather Than Therapeutic Factors Determine the Placement of Offenders in Mental Health Courts? Awarded May 2011.
• University of Iowa's Obermann Award for Interdisciplinary Research – awarded January 9, 2008 - “Consumers as Patients or Patients as Consumers? An Interdisciplinary Inquiry into the Evolving Relationship between Healthcare Providers and their Customers,” with Nicolas Terry, LLM. Role: Co-Investigator