Black History Month: Honoring Solomon Carter Fuller, M.D.

The above plaque hangs in the hall of the Fuller Inclusion Suite in the Department of Psychiatry

Solomon Carter Fuller, M.D. (1872-1953), was the first Black psychiatrist in the U.S., developing groundbreaking research in dementia through his studies in Germany and the United States. His discoveries are multitudinous, although Dr. Fuller is best known for advancing clinical knowledge through his published work on “presenile dementia,” including what is now known as Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Fuller’s expertise in psychiatry, pathology and neurology as a clinician, scientist and educator left enduring effects across professions. He invented the photomicrograph, which helped him to identify key elements in brain tissue related to psychosis and dementia.

As a direct descendent of Liberian medical missionaries and women enslaved in the U.S., his heritage illuminated barriers and possibilities beyond the racism and discrimination that he endured in his personal and professional life. His wife, Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, was an accomplished sculptor of international renown, and together they had three sons, Solomon, William and Perry. While he lived and worked across the U.S. and Germany, he worked for much of his career in Massachusetts, as a pathologist at Westborough State Hospital and faculty member at Boston University School Medicine.

- submitted by Crystal N. Dunivant, M.S.W., LSW, FIRST Consultant & Trainer, Best Practices in Schizophrenia Treatment (BeST) Center