I have chosen the 30 years, 1969–1999, for this article, because this represents my psychiatric career from entry into the training scheme at the Maudsley Hospital to being current head of the old-age group at the Institute of Psychiatry. What becomes apparent, on looking back, is that the developments at this campus, which contains a psychiatric teaching hospital and a postgraduate research institute, reflect those in the UK over that time. In many areas, the lead has come from here. These activities will be reviewed and some challenges for the next decade proposed. The latter will be personal, from a researcher with an epidemiological/public health perspective.