Core elements of a public psychiatry fellowship.

As the oldest, largest, and best known program for training psychiatrists to become public-sector leaders, the Columbia University Public Psychiatry Fellowship (PPF) at New York State Psychiatric Institute has frequently been consulted by other departments of psychiatry planning public and community fellowship programs. PPF's faculty has developed seven core elements for such training programs. The fellowship's longevity and the career paths of its graduates suggest that these core elements represent a best-practices model for fellowship training in public-community psychiatry.