Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the life of an African-American Neurologist and understand the obstacles he confronted during his lifetime.
Background: Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller was the first African-American Professor in the Department of Neurology and Psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Fuller worked in the laboratory of Dr. Alois Alzheimer in anatomical and histological preparations.
Design/Methods: Literature review primarily through PubMed and historical archives.
Results: Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller was born in Liberia in August 1872. At the age of 17, he left Liberia to pursue a higher education at Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina. He completed his medical course at Boston University School of Medicine and graduated with an M.D. He later joined the faculty at Boston University School of Medicine, first as an instructor in pathology and became an associate professor of neurology in 1921. Dr. Fuller worked in the laboratory of Dr. Alois Alzheimer during his discovery of Alzheimer’s disease and later translated many of Dr. Alzheimer’s work from German to English. Dr. Fuller was promoted to head of the Neurology and Psychiatry department. After 34 years of teaching, Dr. Fuller retired when a white junior colleague was promoted to Chair of the Neurology department.
Conclusions: Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller faced enormous odds during a time when African-Americans were not able to obtain a high position of leadership. However, with perseverance and persistence he overcame those odds.
Disclosure: Dr. Nwanegwo has nothing to disclose. Dr. Branson has nothing to disclose.
Letters: Rapid online correspondence
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