Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller

Lewy Body Dementia Association

Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller is the first known African American psychiatrist whose work includes some of the earliest publications on dementia in America and his story is a remarkable one.

Born in Africa in 1872, Dr. Fuller was the grandson of enslaved people in Virginia who purchased their freedom and moved to Liberia. After moving to the United States in 1889 to complete his undergraduate degree, he graduated from the Boston University School of Medicine, a school open to all genders and racial-ethnic groups.

After completing medical school, Dr. Fuller did research in the lab of German psychiatrist Dr. Alois Alzheimer, doing anatomical preparations and examining the resulting brain samples. His work in the lab led to the discovery of traits for Alzheimer's disease in 1906.

Dr. Fuller made a huge contribution to our knowledge about Alzheimer’s dementia and his legacy lives on. It provides hope to African Americans and others that they can go on and make impactful contributions to science as well, especially dementia science.

Today’s researchers should continue to be inspired by Dr. Fuller and commit to diversity in their labs and trials to strive toward a common goal—to understand and ultimately end dementias among all populations.