1949: Ernest St. John Simms, Black researcher, joins WUSM staff

Ernest St. John Simms, a Black researcher, joins the medical school’s research staff, later contributing to the Nobel-Prize-winning research of Arthur Kornberg. Simms is named a research assistant professor in 1968, becoming the first Black person to hold a full-time academic appointment at the school, and is named an associate professor in 1971.

Ernest St. John Simms

Image: Ernest St. John Simms