Brain Health Symposium to honor Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller, first Black psychiatrist and Alzheimer’s research pioneer
The DAWN African American Alzheimer’s Research Study, Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, and the Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity at Wake Forest School of Medicine will host a Brain Health Symposium to honor the contributions of Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller. The symposium will be held on Friday, Feb. 21, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Guilford Technical Community College Conference Center, 7908 Leabourne Road, Colfax, North Carolina. The symposium is free and open to the public, all meals are provided, and parking is free.
Dr. Fuller, the first Black psychiatrist and Alzheimer’s research pioneer, was born in 1872 in Monrovia, Liberia. His grandfather was a Virginia slave who bought his and his wife’s freedom, then emigrated to Liberia in 1852 to help establish a settlement of African Americans. Fuller always showed an interest in medicine, especially since his grandparents were medical missionaries in Liberia. In 1889, he migrated to the United States to attend Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina, and Long Island College Medical School. He completed his medical degree at the Boston University School of Medicine in 1897.
Dr. Fuller contributed significantly to the growing clinical knowledge of Alzheimer’s disease as part of his post-graduate studies in Germany. In 1903, he was one of five foreign students chosen by Alois Alzheimer, who the disease is named after, to do research at the Royal Psychiatric Hospital at the University of Munich. While there, he performed ground-breaking research on the physical changes that occur in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients. Fuller faced discrimination in the medical field in the form of unequal salaries and underemployment.
The Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller Alzheimer’s Disease and Brain Health Symposium will include community forums, panels, research exhibits, health vendors, and speakers who will focus on Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias, caregiving, mental health, and risk factors.
Event Details:
Doors open at 8 a.m. to sign in, registration is recommended to attend.
Please call 336-716-9948 to register and for more information, or click the link to register: https://redcap.link/scfregistration.
The event is free and open to the public, all meals are provided, and parking is free.
Friday, Feb, 21, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Guilford Technical Community College Conference Center
7908 Leabourne Road, Colfax, N.C.
