Dr. May was born in Lawrence, Kansas. He received an A.B. degree from the University of Kansas (1894) and his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania (1897). He served a residency at the Philadelphia General Hospital and then as an assistant physician at a private mental hospital, Brigham Hall in Canandaigua, N.Y. (1899–1901). He served on active duty in the U.S. Army during the Spanish-American War, including a year in the Philippines. He also served on active duty with the US Army during WWI.
Dr. May entered the New York State Mental Hospital system for a short time, first at Manhattan State Hospital and then moving to Binghamton State Hospital. In 1911, he was appointed Medical Superintendent of the Matteawan State Hospital and, shortly thereafter, Chairman of the New York State Hospital Commission. From 1911–17, Dr. May remained in the Medical Reserve Corps of the U.S. Army and, during WWI, was stationed at Camp Devers (Massachusetts).
In 1916, he left New York to become Superintendent of the Grafton (MA) State Hospital and a year later moved to Boston State Hospital as Superintendent, where he remained until 1933, when he became Commissioner of Mental Diseases for Massachusetts.
Dr. May contributed to the psychiatric literature. In 1922, he published a book on “Mental Disease, a Public Health Problem” and an English translation of Wilmann’s review of schizophrenia and other papers by prominent German psychiatrists.
He was active in many organizations as a member and served on boards. He helped organize the first district affiliate of the APA in 1924 and served as President of the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society (1927–28) and President of the New England Psychiatric Society (1933–34). He was on the board of the Massachusetts Mental Hygiene Society, the Massachusetts Society for Social Hygiene, the Boston School of Occupational Therapy, and others.
Dr. May served nineteen years on the APA Committee on Statistics, with ten years as Chairman. He is said to have suggested the name change to the American Psychiatric Association in 1921. Dr. May was President of the Psychiatric Association (1932–33).