Gian Luigi Gessa is a professor of Neuropsychopharmacology at the University of Cagliari, where he has led for a long time the Department of Neurosciences.

Under his leadership, the Department of Neuroscience of University of Cagliari was ranked twenty-third place in the world among research institutes in the field of Pharmacology (Xenobiotics, Current Contents, Life Sciences, 1993).

Professor Gessa is also head of the CICAP Sardinia and a member of the Scientific Committee of "Journal of Psychiatry" located at University of Rome "La Sapienza".

He is currently professor emeritus of pharmacology at the University of Cagliari and an associate member of the Institute of Neurosciences of the National Research Council.

In 2004, he decided to join politics, by standing with the list of Renato Soru Project Sardinia as a regional councilor, being elected with 4613 preferences.