Solomon Carter Fuller
Solomon Carter Fuller | |
---|---|
Boston University School of Medicine (M.D., 1897) Livingstone College (1893) | |
Occupation(s) | physician, psychiatrist, pathologist, professor |
Known for | work in the field of Alzheimer's disease |
Spouse | |
Children | 3 |
Parent(s) | Solomon C. Fuller Anna Ursala James |
Solomon Carter Fuller (August 11, 1872 – January 16, 1953) was a pioneering
In 1919, Fuller became part of the faculty at
Early life and education
Solomon Fuller was born in Monrovia, Liberia to
Fuller's mother set up a school to teach Solomon and other children in the area. Fuller also studied at the College Preparatory School of Monrovia.[5]
He had a keen interest in medicine given that his maternal grandparents were medical missionaries in Liberia. Fuller moved to the United States to study at Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina, graduating in 1893. Later he attended Long Island College Medical School.[1]
He completed his MD degree in 1897 from Boston University School of Medicine. It was a
Career
Fuller spent the majority of his career practicing as a neuropathologist at Westborough State Hospital in Westborough, Massachusetts.[7] This is where he completed a two-year internship in neuropathology prior to being selected by Alois Alzheimer to conduct novel research at the Royal Psychiatric Hospital at the University of Munich, led by Emil Kraepelin.[7] While there, he performed ground-breaking research on the physical changes that occur in the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients.[8] Approximately one year later, he returned to Westborough State Hospital with his new knowledge. He developed and edited the Westborough State Hospital Papers, a journal that began publishing results of local research.[7]
He worked with Alois Alzheimer,[7] the psychiatrist credited with publishing the first case of presenile dementia.[9] While working as a clinical pathologist, Fuller noted that amyloid plaques[10] and neurofibrillary tangles[11] may be significant biomarkers for the study of Alzheimer's disease, separate from arteriosclerosis, the then-assumed cause of disease.[12]
Fuller worked with patients with chronic alcoholism, noting the neuropathology of the disease.
In 1919, Fuller left Westborough State Hospital to join the faculty at Boston University School of Medicine. He served as an associate professor until 1933, at which time he left academia after recognizing racial disparities in the salary and promotion processes of his time.
When the
Personal life
For most of his life, Fuller lived in Framingham, Massachusetts with his wife, the sculptor Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller. They had three children.[1] After losing his eyesight in 1944, Fuller was unable to continue practicing and passed away in 1953, at the age of 81 years, due to advanced diabetes and gastrointestinal malignancy.[4]
Legacy and honors
- The Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller Mental Health Center, located at 85 E Newton Street in Boston, is named after him.[16] It forms part of the Boston Medical Center, the primary teaching affiliate for Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine.
- In the early 1970s, the American Psychiatric Association established a Solomon Carter Fuller Award lecture at its annual meetings.[17]
- Fuller Middle School, named after him and his wife, a noted sculptor, is located in Framingham, Massachusetts. The school's history reads:
The Fuller Middle School was established in September of 1994. The school is named in honor of Dr. Solomon Fuller, a psychiatrist, and his wife Meta Fuller, a sculptor. The Fullers, a pioneering African-American family, lived on Warren Road near the current location of the Fuller Middle School during the early part of the twentieth century. Dr. and Mrs. Fuller were leaders in their professions and in the Framingham Community during their lives. The roles they played during their lifetimes serve as models for the students of the school named in their memory.[18]
- Dr. Solomon Fuller Way, on the site of the former Westborough State Hospital, is named after him.[19]
Works by Solomon C. Fuller
- "A Study Of The Neurofibrils In Dementia Paralytica, Dementia Senilis, Chronic Alcoholism, Cerebral Lues And Microcephalic Idiocy.", The American Journal of Psychiatry. Volume 63 Issue 4, April 1907, pp. 415–468-13.
- "A Study of the Miliary Plaques Found in Brains of the Aged", American Journal of Insanity 28(2) (1911).
- "Alzheimer's disease (senium praecox): the report of a case and review of published cases", Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease: July 1912 - Volume 39 - Issue 7 - pp 440–455.
- with Henry I. Klopp, "Further Observations on Alzheimer's Disease," American Journal of Insanity 69 (1912): 26, 27.
- "Anatomic Findings of General Paresis and Multiple Sclerosis in the Same Case." Boston Soc. of Neurology and Psychiatry. Arch. Neurol. and Psychiat 5 (1921): 757-1921.
References
- ^ a b c d e f Heung, Camille, "Fuller, Solomon Carter (1872-1953)", blackpast.org
- ^ Lucy Ozarin, M.D., "Solomon Carter Fuller: First Black Psychiatrist", Psychiatric News, September 6, 2002, Volume 37, Number 17, p. 19.
- ^ a b Gray, Madison (12 January 2007). "Black History Month: Unsung Heroes". Time.
- ^ PMID 33325137.
- ^ "Bio: Solomon Fuller", faqs.org
- ^ Keith A. P. Sandiford, A Black Studies Primer: Heroes and Heroines of the African Diaspora, Hansib Publications, 2008, p. 179.
- ^ PMID 33325137.
- S2CID 44677920.
- S2CID 7810610.
- S2CID 72351978.
- ISSN 0002-953X.
- ^ PMID 20893712.
- ^ W Scott Terry (2008) "A Missed Opportunity for Psychology: The Story of Solomon Carter Fuller." APS Observer 21: 6. June/July.
- ^ "Solomon Carter Fuller". Psychology Today. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
- ^ Kantor 2022, p. 165.
- ^ "Metro Boston Mental Health Unit at Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller Mental Health Center | Mass.gov". www.mass.gov. Retrieved 2021-03-07.
- ^ "APA Awards". www.psychiatry.org. Retrieved 2021-03-07.
- ^ About Fuller Middle School, Framingham Public Schools, archived from the original on 2014-03-29
- ^ Correspondent, Tom Godfrey Wicked Local. "Westborough Hospital Road renamed for Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller". Westborough News. Retrieved 2021-03-07.[permanent dead link]
Further reading
- Carl C. Bell, "Solomon Carter Fuller: Where the Caravan Rested," Journal of the American Medical Association 95:10 (2005)
- W. Montague Cobb. "Solomon Carter Fuller (1872-1953)," Journal of the National Medical Association 46(5) (1954).
- G. James Fleming and Christian E. Burckel, eds, Who's Who in Colored America (New York: Christian E. Burckel & Associates, 1950).
- Jerry M. Kantor, Sane Asylums pp. 164–166, (Rochester, Vermont: Healing Arts Press, 2022).
- Mary Kaplan, Solomon Carter Fuller: Where My Caravan Has Rested, University Press of America, 2005.
- Mary Kaplan and Alfred R. Henderson, "Solomon Carter Fuller, M.D. (1872-1953): American Pioneer in Alzheimer's Disease Research," Journal of the History of the Neurosciences 9:3 (2000)
- Rayford W. Loganand Michael R. Winston, eds, Dictionary of American Negro Biography (New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1982)
- Lucy Ozarin, M.D., "Solomon Carter Fuller: First Black Psychiatrist", Psychiatric News, September 6, 2002, Volume 37, Number 17, p. 19.
- John Potter, "Solomon Carter Fuller." Doctors, Nurses and Medical Practitioners: A Bio-Bibliographical Sourcebook pp. 116–119, Lois N. Magner, ed. (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1998).