02/17/2026
Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller was a pioneering African American psychiatrist whose work helped shape our early understanding of Alzheimer’s disease. Born in Liberia to parents who had emigrated after escaping enslavement, he went on to graduate from Boston University School of Medicine—one of the few institutions at the time open to Black students and women.
Dr. Fuller spent much of his career at Westborough State Mental Hospital, where he conducted groundbreaking research on the physical changes in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s. He worked alongside Dr. Alois Alzheimer himself and is recognized as one of the first known Black psychiatrists, leaving a lasting impact on both psychiatry and neuroscience.