Renowned Psychiatrist Bunney Quits as UCI Department Head

Internationally renowned psychiatrist William E. Bunney has abruptly resigned as chairman of UC Irvine’s department of psychiatry and human behavior.

Bunney, 61, had been department chairman since 1982 and before that was a top official with the National Institute of Mental Health. He could not be reached for comment Thursday, but in a brief resignation letter to Chancellor Jack W. Peltason Wednesday he said he wanted to “devote additional time to research and teaching.”

Bunney, an expert in the brain chemistry of schizophrenia and manic-depressive illness, will remain at UCI as “distinguished professor of psychiatry and human behavior.”