Medical and psychiatric leaders from fifteen Southern States met in the nation's first regional conference on psychiatric training for physicians in Atlanta, Georgia, October 8-9, 1959. A number of national leaders in the field of psychiatry and medicine participated in the program, including Dr. Robert H. Felix, President-Elect of the American Psychiatric Association and Director of the National Institute of Mental Health; Dr. John G. Walsh, President-Elect of the American Academy of General Practice, and Dr. Leo H. Bartemeier, Chairman, Council on Mental Health of the American Medical Association. The conference resulted from growing recognition of the important role played by physicians in the treatment of mental illness. The conference suggested ways in which various groups in a state or in several states may organize more effective programs for the training of physicians in psychiatric principles.