Alvin F. Poussaint

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Alvin Francis Poussaint (b. May 15, 1934 in East Harlem, New York) is a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. As a youth, Poussaint took ill with rheumatic fever, which left him unable to engage in the physical activities of his peers. The academic pursuits that characterized his early years led him to acquire an M.D from Cornell University, and postgraduate training from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he studied psychopharmacology and served as Chief Resident in Psychiatry.

After his initial academic accomplishments, Poussaint took part in the civil rights movement, which solidified his notion that racism resides at the core of mental health problems in the black community. Later in life, Pouissant served as a consultant for the The Cosby Show and currently combines an advocacy for responsible media programming with his academic work.