The American Academy of Psychiatry and Law (AAPL) has honored Joseph Bloom, M.D., professor of psychiatry and dean emeritus of the OHSU School of Medicine, with its prestigious 2002 Seymour Pollack Award. Bloom was given this award in recognition of his distinguished contributions to the field of forensic psychiatry and his leadership in organized psychiatry.

Bloom, past president of the AAPL, is an internationally known forensic psychiatrist and expert on the insanity defense. He has written numerous articles and book chapters, including landmark articles on Oregon's Psychiatric Security Review Board and on cross-cultural forensic psychiatry.

Bloom has been president of the American Board of Forensic Psychiatry, the Oregon Neuropsychiatric Association, the Alaska Chapter of the American Psychiatry Association, and the Oregon Psychiatric Association. He also was a member of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology's Committee on Added Qualification in Forensic Psychiatry. In 1999 he received the Oregon Health & Science Foundation Mentor Award, which is given to an Oregonian who has provided outstanding leadership and support in health research, education or the advancement of health care.

Bloom received his medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He completed his internship at Mt. Zion Hospital and Medical Center in San Francisco, and his psychiatry residency at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center. After completing a fellowship at Harvard Medical School Laboratory of Community Psychiatry, Bloom moved to Alaska and became the first psychiatrist assigned to the Indian Health Service in Alaska, where he helped to set up a mental health program focused on the Eskimo population.

Bloom came to OHSU in 1977 as director of the Community Psychiatry Training Program. He was chairman of psychiatry in the OHSU School of Medicine from 1986 to 1994, and served as dean of the OHSU School of Medicine from 1993 to 2001.