James S. Jackson, M.D.

2012 Solomon Carter Fuller Award Recipient

Lecture Title: Racial and Ethnic Influences on Mental Health: The Evolving Evidence

Dr. Jackson received his Ph.D. in psychology from Wayne State University in 1972. He was the Daniel Katz Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Psychology, professor emeritus of psychology in LSA, and research professor emeritus in ISR’s Research Center for Group Dynamics.  His leadership roles began early in his career, including serving as chair of the National Association of Black Psychologists in 1972–73, serving on NIH review boards in the 1970s, and serving on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Aging from 1978–82. Jackson’s leadership roles spanned the social sciences, health, medicine, and science. One of the most notable was his appointment by President Barack Obama to the National Science Foundation’s National Science Board, where he advised Congress and the president on national science and engineering policy.

Dr. Jackson established the Program for Research on Black Americans (PRBA) at the Institute for Social Research, where his groundbreaking scholarship on the life experiences of ethnically diverse Black populations across the life course resulted in some of the most extensive social, political, and economic studies on the meaning of racial and ethnic influences on health and mental health. He was a fellow of several associations and the recipient of awards such as the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues Distinguished Career Contributions to Research Award.  He was also an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Jackson was the recipient of APA’s Solomon Carter Fuller Award in 2012.