The Missouri Institute of Mental Health (MIMH) was established as the Missouri Institute of Psychiatry (MIP) in October 1962 by George A. Ulett, M.D., on the grounds of St. Louis State Hospital as the research and teaching arm of the Missouri Division of Mental Diseases, now the Department of Mental Health (DMH). The University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) took over operation of MIP in 1965. The establishment of the institute quickly led to a drastic reduction in hospital overcrowding, a new psychiatric residency training program, full-time psychiatric care for patients, an end to racial segregation in city psychiatric facilities, and the first treatment program for alcoholism in St. Louis. Over the past decade, MIMH has informed new knowledge that supports the mental health and well being of persons with behavioral health problems through research and evaluation, policy development, technological innovation, and training. We currently generate approximately $9 million in annual funding through grants and contracts. Today, MIMH is poised to become one of the country’s finest health services research organizations dedicated to serving the state and the nation by improving the delivery of behavioral health services.