Joseph Bloom, MD, received his degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, interned at Mt. Zion Hospital in San Francisco and trained in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in Boston. He then traded urban living for working in Alaska, first as chief of the mental health unit in the Alaska Native Health Service from 1966-68, and later in private practice in Anchorage from 1969-77. In 1977, Dr. Bloom moved to Portland and joined the OHSU faculty in the position of director of the Community Psychiatry Training Program. Over the years, Dr. Bloom has served as acting chairman and vice chairman of the Department of Psychiatry, and became department chairman from l986 to 1994. He served as interim dean of the School of Medicine in 1993-94, and was appointed dean from 1994 until 2001, when he returned to the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry.Internationally recognized for his teaching, research and prolific writing in the fields of community and forensic psychiatry, Dr. Bloom is considered an expert on the insanity defense, and has written landmark articles on Oregon