1970: Aubrey R. Morrison, MD: First Black intern, chief resident and full professor

Aubrey R. Morrison, MD, becomes the school’s first Black intern, and later the first Black chief resident in internal medicine. In 1987, he is named the school’s first Black full professor. The Washington University Medical Center Alumni Association honors him with its Faculty Achievement Award in 2016.  In a 2021 special article for the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Morrison recalls:

“‘Aubrey, I didn’t know you were that smart,’ said my colleague, a white faculty member who has known me for years, after I presented a research seminar in 1980. I brushed this off at the time, but in retrospect, it was one of many microaggressions I experienced in my early days at Washington University.”

— Aubrey R. Morrison, MD

Aubrey R. Morrison, MD, in the laboratory, 1986

Image: Aubrey R. Morrison, MD, in the laboratory, 1986