As a former interdisciplinary humanities graduate student at the University of Chicago, Junlachak specialized in critical theory, the phenomenology of race and sex/gender, and theories of subjectivity including psychodynamic theories focusing on attachment and identity-formation. After pivoting to public health/social work, he focused his scholarship on Adverse Childhood Experiences research and their long-term sequelae, primarily addiction in the context of the failed U.S. war on drugs and carceral system reform, an area which necessarily deals firsthand with the root causes of health disparities owing to the intergenerational transmission of trauma. His current research concerns finding new ways to innovate and integrate tertiary trauma-informed care interventions into prison populations with a history of developmental trauma and substance use disorders, in an effort to reduce rates of recidivism and relapse and address the ongoing problem that is the trauma-to-prison pipeline, which disproportionately affects communities of color. Due to his interdisciplinary background, Junlachak is interested in trauma neurobiology and emergent psychotherapies; affect theory, political theory and law/ethics/moral philosophy; finding ways to bring Marxist critical theory into productive dialogue with contemporary work in activism advocacy, research, and reform efforts; and bringing into being a more equitable, compassionate, and sustainable justice system.