Associate Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Health
Penn State College of Medicine
Scott Bunce, PhD., is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Penn State College of Medicine, and Adjunct Professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering at Drexel University. Dr. Bunce received doctorates in Clinical and Personality Psychology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he also completed his post-doctoral training. Clinically, Dr. Bunce works with both individuals and families with a history of psychological trauma and its sequelae, including substance use disorders. Dr. Bunce’s research interests lie at the intersection of clinical and affective/motivational neuroscience, with a focus on translational neuroimaging, especially reward processing and substance use disorder. While at Drexel, Dr. Bunce collaborated with Dr. Britton Chance (UPenn) and the Drexel team to develop functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy technology for use in human neuroimaging. At Penn State, he has continued that work to develop an objective, brain-based model to predict relapse vulnerability in opioid and alcohol use disorders. Dr. Bunce also joined Dr. Sue Grigson to take a new approach to treating opioid use disorder, by evaluating the efficacy of a GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist; liraglutide) to reduce craving in a population with Opioid Use Disorder. Their team is currently conducting a larger, NIDA-funded clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of the GLP-1RA semaglutide to reduce craving and prevent return to opioid use in an ambulatory OUD patient population. Dr. Bunce’s research has been funded by both federal and private agencies, including NIDA, the DOD, DARPA, ONR, Department of Homeland Security, the FAA, and the Pennsylvania Dept of Health, among others.
Friday, May 30, 2025
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM East Coast USA Time