A community-based public-academic liaison program.
OBJECTIVE
The authors discuss obstacles and incentives associated with successful community-based public-academic liaison activities and illustrate their conclusions by describing their public-academic liaison program, which received the American College of Psychiatrists' first annual Award for Creativity in Psychiatric Education.


METHODS
The first 8 years of a state/university collaboration are described in which the parties involved first developed a variety of innovative services designed to fill specific gaps in the public service delivery system and subsequently integrated academic research and training components.


RESULTS
The carefully planned and monitored process resulted in the exponential growth of interest in public sector work, the realization of the university's primary goals of developing high quality training and research sites, a substantial increase in the number of graduates accepting positions in the public sector, several projects funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, and two national awards.


CONCLUSIONS
These collaborations illustrate the highly complementary relationship of public-academic liaison activities and their potential capacity to improve access to services, substantially improve the quality of these services, generate extramural support for services research, and increase the number of well-trained professionals in the public sector.
Medical University of South Carolina, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Charleston 29425.
A B
AB
Santos
J C
JC
Ballenger
J J
JJ
Bevilacqua
J J
JJ
Zealberg
T G
TG
Hiers
S
S
McLeod-Bryant
P A
PA
Deci
L J
LJ
Rames
D000046:Academic Medical Centers / Q000458:organization & administration*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002321:Career Choice; D003155:Community Mental Health Centers / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003284:Contract Services; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000458:organization & administration; D009042:Motivation; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000193:education*; D017150:Public Sector / Q000458:organization & administration*; D013663:Teaching; D000078329:Workforce