Dr. Hall was born in Iredell County, North Carolina, and graduated from the University of North Carolina (1911) with Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He entered medical school at the University of North Carolina, but transferred to Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia and received the M.D. degree in 1904. He served an internship at the Polyclinic Hospital in Philadelphia and joined the staff at the State Hospital in Morgantown, North Carolina, in 1905, where he carried out research in pellagra.
In 1911, Dr. Hall joined other psychiatrists in organizing and then serving as superintendent of Westbrook Sanitarium, a private sanitarium in Richmond, Virginia, where he remained for some years. He was a member of the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received an honorary L.L.D. from the University of North Carolina in 1935. He contributed a number of articles to the psychiatric literature (1906–1936).
Dr. Hall served as President of the American Psychiatric Association (1941–1922).