The public psychiatry training program at Oregon Health Sciences Unive
rsity, established in 1973, educates psychiatric residents to work in
community mental health centers and state hospitals. The authors prese
nt a brief history of this program, which spans three decades, and des
cribe recent developments in its operation, with special attention to
financing, administrative structure, and educational elements. Several
program graduates have chosen careers in public-sector work. The prog
ram is founded on the principle that just as dollars should follow pat
ients in health care systems, so should residents in training follow p
atients. Administrative and fiscal arrangements must be flexible to su
pport this mobility.