{"id":101864,"date":"2022-02-24T13:54:50","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T18:54:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/busm\/?p=101864"},"modified":"2026-10-27T20:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T00:10:11","slug":"day-long-seminar-celebrates-the-life-work-and-legacy-of-pioneering-black-psychiatrist-solomon-carter-fuller-md","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/2022\/02\/24\/day-long-seminar-celebrates-the-life-work-and-legacy-of-pioneering-black-psychiatrist-solomon-carter-fuller-md\/","title":{"rendered":"Day-long Seminar Celebrates the Life, Work and Legacy of Pioneering Black Psychiatrist Solomon Carter Fuller, MD"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dr.<\/a>In one of the iconic photographs that accompanies discussions of the life and work of world-renowned neurologist, pathologist and educator Solomon Carter Fuller, MD, he is looking down at a glass slide, his microscope close at hand, focused on his task. The first Black psychiatrist in the United States, Fuller graduated from Boston University School of Medicine nearly 125 years ago in 1897.<\/p>\n

The grandson of slaves, he overcame obstacles of race with unwavering purposefulness throughout a 45-year career as a trailblazing scientist, academician and consultant. Recognized by his peers for the rigorous scientific approach he brought to psychiatry, Fuller himself believed he could have achieved more and risen higher if not for the color of his skin.<\/p>\n

\"Button<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cToday, we celebrate Dr. Fuller\u2019s achievements at a time when African American physicians faced even more barriers than today,\u201d said BUMC Provost and BUSM Dean Karen Antman, MD, in her remarks opening the day-long seminar held Feb. 17, commemorating his life, his contributions to psychiatry and his legacy.<\/p>\n

In highlighting his career, Antman noted that Fuller was chosen by Dr. Alois Alzheimer of the Royal Psychiatric Hospital in Munich as one of five foreign research assistants, and the only American scientist, to help him study the brains of dementia patients that led to the discovery of Alzheimer\u2019s Disease.<\/p>\n

Ahead of his time<\/h3>\n

\u201cHe was a visionary. He was completely ahead of his time,\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/strong> said Chantale Branson, MD, assistant professor of neurology and course director at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta and an adjunct professor at BUSM.<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This research uncovered abnormalities in brain tissue \u2013 twisted protein threads known as neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques, dense clumps of protein located between nerve cells. In 1912, Fuller published the first comprehensive review of the research that established it as a disease, not senility or insanity. Fuller\u2019s research diverged from Alzheimer\u2019s in highlighting the role of plaques over the neurofibrillary tangles. He also showed it was a disease of the young and old, and distinct from the dementia caused by arteriosclerosis, the hardening of veins with age.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a visionary. He was completely ahead of his time,\u201d said Chantale Branson, MD, assistant professor of neurology and course director at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta and an adjunct professor at BUSM.<\/p>\n

Branson spoke on the historical life and times of Fuller that established his intellect and his drive to succeed and overcome obstacles.<\/p>\n

Fuller\u2019s paternal grandparents were former slaves who purchased their freedom and moved to Liberia. Fuller was born in 1872 in Monrovia, Liberia, and ventured to the U.S. as a teenager seeking an education. By 1897 he had graduated from BUSM, and within two years he\u2019d advanced from an internship at Westborough Insane Hospital (whose name was changed to Westborough State Hospital in 1907 and closed in 2010) to Head Pathologist. In that same time span, he was named director of the Clinical Society of Massachusetts and an instructor of pathology at BUSM.<\/p>\n

In 1909 he joined Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and 172 of the world\u2019s leading psychologists, physicians and educators invited to an international conference at Clark University in Worcester. In a photo from the conference, he is one of 39 pictured posing with Freud and Jung.<\/p>\n

But Fuller never rose above associate professor in BUSM\u2019s neurology department, despite serving as the chair from 1928 to 1933, although he was never given that official title. He resigned in 1933 after a white assistant professor with less experience was promoted to professor and department chair. He continued in psychiatric practice in Framingham until his death in 1953.<\/p>\n

Upon his retirement, BUSM appointed Fuller professor emeritus of neurology.<\/p>\n

Persistent challenges<\/h3>\n

\u201cHe had an amazing career, but it was also filled with the challenges of his time. These challenges persist, even in our times,\u201d<\/strong> said David Henderson, MD, psychiatrist-in-chief at Boston Medical Center and professor and chair of psychiatry at BUSM.<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Branson and other seminar presenters acknowledged that conditions have improved for Black academics, researchers and practitioners in the psychiatry fields, but that obstacles still remain. Branson said that Blacks are under-represented in fields like neurology. The 2021 U.S. Census estimated Black or African Americans at 13.4 percent of the U.S. population. But Branson cited an American Academy of Neurology 2020 Insights Report that showed Black or African Americans comprise just 2.8 percent of U.S. neurologists, with an average salary nearly $20,000 less than their white or Asian American counterparts.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had an amazing career, but it was also filled with the challenges of his time. These challenges persist, even in our times,\u201d said David Henderson, MD, psychiatrist-in-chief at Boston Medical Center and professor and chair of psychiatry at BUSM.<\/p>\n

Henderson called Fuller a triple threat, a neurologist, pathologist and psychiatrist who had an impact on psychiatrists and researchers practicing in those fields, regardless of their race.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Fuller) was resilient and persistent as an academic clinician and as a pathologist and a scholar. And what really impressed me, amongst his many accomplishments, was his drive to succeed and to self-educate,\u201d said Christopher Andry, M. Phil, PhD, chief of pathology & laboratory medicine at Boston Medical Center and chair of pathology & laboratory medicine at BUSM.<\/p>\n

Henderson said it\u2019s difficult for the University to go back and correct the wrongs of 100 years ago, but that there\u2019s been a significant effort to address them in the present day.<\/p>\n

Since 1969 the American Psychiatric Association has given out an award in Fuller\u2019s name to a psychiatrist who has significantly improved the quality of life for Black people. Henderson was a 2007 recipient of the APA Solomon Carter Fuller Award for his work in Africa and Asia training psychiatrists. While doing that work, he also was researching the roots of mental health issues in ethnic U.S. populations.<\/p>\n

In 1972 the Commonwealth of Massachusetts built the Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller Mental Health Center on the BU Medical Campus.<\/p>\n

Fuller biographer Mary Kaplan spoke at the BUSM seminar on a drive to have Fuller\u2019s life documented in the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n

But to many of Fuller\u2019s grandchildren, his accomplishments were largely overshadowed by that of his wife Meta, a well-known sculptor, according to grandson John Fuller.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was a youngster, I only knew my grandfather as Grandpa and we didn\u2019t know of his accomplishments until later,\u201d Fuller told the seminar.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a proud day for the family, that BU has recognized my grandfather,\u201d said David Fuller.<\/p>\n

Access, research and treatment challenges for Blacks and people of color<\/h3>\n

\u201cWe have a bias and disparity in terms of health care and access to health care (that) exists across the life course, (and) starts even before babies are born,\u201d <\/strong>said Goldie Smith Byrd, PhD, director of the Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity and professor of social sciences and health policy at Wake Forest School of Medicine. \u201cAs we age those disparities grow get even larger.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cSome of the negative racial interactions in Fuller\u2019s experience, continue today in the Black experience in health care, and research has shown that Alzheimer\u2019s disease is disproportionately impacting Blacks and people of color,\u201d said Goldie Smith Byrd, PhD, director of the Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity and professor of social sciences and health policy at Wake Forest School of Medicine.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfrican Americans and Hispanics \u2026 are more likely to have Alzheimer\u2019s Disease and dementia \u2026 because we have greater familial (genetic) risk, we have more limited health care access, and later or no diagnosis,\u201d Byrd said in the seminar\u2019s keynote presentation. Other populations like Native Americans and Asian Americans are being studied but even less is known, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a bias and disparity in terms of health care and access to health care (that) exists across the life course, (and) starts even before babies are born,\u201d said Byrd. \u201cAs we age those disparities grow get even larger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Byrd believes the COVID-19 pandemic really highlighted the impact that lower incomes and decreased access to health care can mean to prevention and treatment.<\/p>\n

That disparity exists on the research side as well, where African Americans and other groups were being left out of medical trials.<\/p>\n

Some of it is a reluctance of those groups to participate due to an inherent distrust of medical research in the Black community given past abuse like the Wake Forest eugenics studies and the Tuskegee syphilis study, Byrd noted. She said researchers also need to understand the culture of the group they are seeking to engage.<\/p>\n

Byrd said her organization has been striving to rebuild trust in North Carolina Black communities by working with family units and through faith groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrustworthiness requires us to look at ourselves as providers, as researchers, as trialists, to see if we are making \u2026 the appropriate, culturally relevant connections,\u201d said Byrd, \u201cas well as giving back to that community by communicating test results and support.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Personal<\/h3>\n

\u201cThis is an underrepresented community. Not that attempts haven\u2019t been there, but they haven\u2019t been able to influence people and rally to get things done,\u201d <\/strong>said Valerie Nolen, senior facilitator for the BU Alzheimer\u2019s Disease Research Center\u2019s (BU ADC) Community Action Council and a diversity, equity and inclusion partner with BUSM\u2019s department of neurology.<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Valerie Nolen knows all about communication and trust. She is the senior facilitator for the BU Alzheimer\u2019s Disease Research Center\u2019s (BU ADC) Community Action Council and a diversity, equity and inclusion partner with BUSM\u2019s department of neurology.<\/p>\n

Nolen didn\u2019t know anything about Alzheimer\u2019s before her mother called her home in 2002, saying \u201cSomething is wrong with your sister.\u201d<\/p>\n

One look and Nolen could see that the sister she knew was gone.<\/p>\n

Nolen, a career businesswoman, started to educate herself and quickly found she knew nothing about the disease \u2013 it just hadn\u2019t been talked about in her family or community. Nolen hadn\u2019t even heard about Fuller or his Alzheimer\u2019s research until she traveled to Europe and asked about the disease there.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an underrepresented community. Not that attempts haven\u2019t been there, but they haven\u2019t been able to influence people and rally to get things done,\u201d said Nolen.<\/p>\n

She joined BU ADC in 2005 and has made it her mission to educate the Black community on the importance of participating in trials and getting tested for Alzheimer\u2019s.<\/p>\n

“I think when people hear about Alzheimer\u2019s research, they think it\u2019s all about taking a new drug or medicine,\u201d said Budson. “Or that they have to have Alzheimer\u2019s to participate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough we do have some research like that, there\u2019s a lot of research going on that healthy older individuals can participate in, and a lot of it has no medicines at all,\u201d said Budson.<\/p>\n

Nolen has the same message for everyone who balks at testing or supporting the research whether in the neighborhoods of Boston or on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand you\u2019re apprehensive, but I also understand how important it is to confront our fears, recognize them, find someone to talk to about it,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can talk to me, and then we can go forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Royisha Young, the research coordinator at the BU ADC, said the center was established in 1996 and is one of 37 federally funded Alzheimer\u2019s disease research centers located around the country. Its mission is to reduce the human and economic costs of the disease through research, care and education.<\/p>\n

\u201c(We) give numerous educational talks in the community encouraging brain health and healthy lifestyles,\u201d she explained. Center staff also go into the community to recruit people to participate in various research trials they are conducting like genetic studies, caregiver research and imaging.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese help us to learn about how brain images can provide more information about diagnosing and detecting Alzheimer\u2019s disease early on when treatments are most effective,\u201d said Young.<\/p>\n

The effect of AD on the family unit<\/h3>\n

\u201cA diagnosis of Alzheimer\u2019s disease will have a significant impact, not only on the individual diagnosed, but also their family unit,\u201d<\/strong> said Lola Baird a licensed independent social worker at the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System. <\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cA diagnosis of Alzheimer\u2019s disease will have a significant impact, not only on the individual diagnosed, but also their family unit,\u201d said Lola Baird a licensed independent social worker at the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System. The rate of Black Americans diagnosed with Alzheimer\u2019s has more than doubled since 1995, Baird said, with more than 9 million expected to be afflicted by 2036.<\/p>\n

Baird\u2019s research showed that prejudicial housing policies grouped Black people in communities with high crime rates. That created persistent long-term stress, which contributes to higher Alzheimer\u2019s rates in those communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnderstanding the impact of sustained or continuous exposure to trauma on later life outcomes is important as our population ages,\u201d Baird said.<\/p>\n

A love of lifelong learning<\/h3>\n

Part of the legacy of Fuller is his dogged work to get an answer to a problem and his love of learning.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Fuller\u2019s life and legacy actually mirrors mine,\u201d said Keith Josephs, MD, professor of neurology and neuroscience at the Mayo Clinic. Like Fuller, Josephs came to the U.S. from another country, Jamaica, to pursue his education. He received a master\u2019s degree in Mathematics from the University of Florida, his MD from the Medical College of Pennsylvania, and a second master\u2019s degree in Clinical and Translational Research.<\/p>\n

Similar to Fuller\u2019s research on Alzheimer\u2019s, Josephs meticulously researched a condition, Primary Progressive Apraxia of Speech, whose symptoms, slow speaking rate, articulatory distortions and sound substitutions and others, were found in other, more studied, syndromes. Patients often lost the use of their limbs and died within a decade of onset, Josephs\u2019 explained.<\/p>\n

Josephs saw his rise from a community college in Miami to multiple degrees and a professorship at the Mayo Clinic as riding a wave.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is something about the inner motivation, wanting to climb this ladder, to be better and better,\u201d Josephs said. In his overview of his career, Josephs described his approach as one of \u00a0constant questioning and diligent pursuit of \u00a0the answers, whether it was in a classroom, or in a clinical setting, or when doing research.<\/p>\n

Is it enough to be motivated and talented?<\/h3>\n

\u201cI think many Black psychiatrists today continue to struggle with our place in American psychiatry and our role,\u201d <\/strong>said Steven Starks, MD, a clinical assistant professor at the University of Houston College of Medicine.<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But a panel discussion of the barriers facing Black psychiatrists, neurologists and pathologists, found that desire and talent were not enough, even though nearly 90 years had passed since Fuller resigned after being passed over for promotion.<\/p>\n

Steven Starks, MD, a clinical assistant professor at the University of Houston College of Medicine sees Fuller\u2019s story as one of optimism in the face of challenge. But he also believed that the same obstacles Fuller faced over promotion, pay equity and opportunity in research and other areas, still existed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think many Black psychiatrists today continue to struggle with our place in American psychiatry and our role,\u201d said Starks.<\/p>\n

Speaking as a panel member discussing \u00a0the challenges and opportunities facing Black people seeking promotion in academia, Henderson believed that a lot had been done in the past 90 years, but he said there was a lot more to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been progress, but I think we have to take a leap here, we really have to take big, big steps,\u201d he said. \u201cEverybody has been trained on implicit bias now. Every institution has supported implicit bias and there\u2019s training and training yet we still have reports of bad actors and an unfriendly environment for people of color.\u201d<\/p>\n

Altha Stewart, MD, another recipient of the Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller Award and a senior associate dean for Community Health Engagement and associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Tennessee, said, \u201cChange cannot just come from the Black community or other people of color.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think to be more welcoming, everybody\u2019s got to carry their load. No one should expect that people of color, especially Black people, need to paint the picture of what the next step is you need to do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m actually pleased to see that the environment is changing in some ways and that there\u2019s an effort and a desire (to talk) about inclusivity. It\u2019s hopefully for most people a genuine thing,\u201d said Teshamae Monteith, MD, an associate professor of clinical neurology at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine.<\/p>\n

\u201cInclusivity is super important for underrepresented groups, but I think as you change the culture and start really moving these inclusivity initiatives forward you\u2019ll find that there are many people that feel this way,\u201d said Monteith.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know there are a lot of challenges,\u201d said panel moderator Michelle Durham, MD, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry and vice chair of education in the BUSM department of psychiatry.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think the list is long for opportunities to make this better \u2026 There are many more ways to improve the system for Black people and people of color on the academic side, the health care side and for society as a whole,\u201d said Durham. \u201cWe need everybody on this journey for equity in all institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn more<\/a> about the seminar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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