Dr. Insel graduated from Boston University College of Liberal Arts (1971) and School of Medicine (1974), completed postgraduate training in psychiatry at U.C. San Francisco (1979), and joined the intramural program of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), where he remained for the subsequent 15 years. At the NIMH, Dr. Insel had two quite independent research careers. From 1979 until 1984, he initiated and developed the first program for the study of adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder in the United States. He was the first U.S. investigator to demonstrate the unique anti-obsessional properties of serotonin uptake inhibiting drugs and the first to suggest a serotonin hypothesis of obsessive compulsive pathophysiology. This work, which was recognized with the A.E. Bennett Award from the Society for Biological Psychiatry in 1986, established the concept of anti-obsessional drugs as a new research area for neuropharmacology.

Beginning in 1984, Dr. Insel shifted his research increasingly from the clinic to the laboratory. Following a sabbatical at Johns Hopkins Department of Neuroscience with Dr. Michael Kuhar, Dr. Insel assumed leadership of the Section of Comparative Studies of Brain and Behavior within the Laboratory of Clinical Science of the NIMH. In this role, he pursued the chemical neuroanatomy of various neuropeptides with specific reference to behavior and development. His work on oxytocin and vasopressin pathways in the rodent brain demonstrated the importance of these neural systems for the mediation of social attachment. This work was recognized with the Curt Richter Prize from the International Society for Psychoneuro-endocrinology in 1991.

While in the Laboratory of Clinical Science and later in the Laboratory of Neurophysiology, Dr. Insel trained 10 post-doctoral fellows, authored or co-authored 200 publications, edited or co-edited 3 books, and served on 10 journal editorial boards. He received the Outstanding Service Medal from the U.S. Public Health Service (1993) and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Boston University School of Medicine (1997) and was asked to give several distinguished lectures in this country and abroad. Dr. Insel joined the faculty of the Emory University School of Medicine and the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center in 1994.