Chester Middlebrook Pierce
| Chester M. Pierce | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Chester Middlebrook Pierce March 4, 1927 Glen Cove, New York |
| Died | September 23, 2016 (aged 89) |
| Occupation | Psychiatrist |
| Known for | Harvard University Professor |
Chester Middlebrook Pierce was Emeritus Professor of Education and Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He was the first African-American full professor at Massachusetts General Hospital, and was past-president of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and the American Orthopsychiatric Association. He was a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Chester Pierce was born on March 4, 1927 in Glen Cove, New York. At the time, only 10% of the 8,000 residents were African Americans. Pierce became the first African American president of his high school. In 1948, he received his A.B. degree from Harvard College and in 1952 he received his M.D. degree from the Harvard Medical School. After medical school, Pierce trained as a psychiatrist in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Pierce was the first African American college football athlete to perform on the playing field of a predominantly-white university versus an all white team below the Mason–Dixon. Harvard's opponent was University of Virginia, October 11, 1947, before a crowd of 22,000.
Pierce died on September 23, 2016.
Pierce is a professor of education and psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He became the first African-American full professor at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Pierce is the past president of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in the American Orthopsychiatric Association and is now a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. From 2001-2004 he was on the Carter Center Mental Health Task force and a founding president of the Black Psychiatrists of America. During that time he was also the National Chairperson of the Child Development Associate Consortium. He spent much of his career as a Senior Psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital, and worked as a psychiatrist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for 25 years.
Pierce was an officer with Commander rank in the U.S. Navy. and has since been a senior consultant to multiple different health-related organizations. While he has been a part of 22 different editorial boards. He participated in the World Association of Social Psychiatry. Much of his time is spent working with organizations that help to promote human rights, conservation, and youth education. He has been a consultant for the Children's Television Network, the Surgeon General of the U.S. Air Force, the US Arctic Research Commission, the Peace Corps, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. While at Harvard he was quoted saying, "Every child in American entering school at the age of 5 is mentally ill because he comes to school with certain allegiances to our founding fathers, toward our elected officials, toward his parents, toward a belief in a supernatural being, and toward the sovereignty of this nation as a separate entity. It's up to you as teacher to make all these sick children well – by creating the international child of the future".
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