Psychiatrist Chester Pierce researched the relationship between racism and health disparities and pioneered the concept of microaggressions, small incidents of bias that have a cumulative effect on mental health. He served as president of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and the American Orthopsychiatric Association, and as the founding president of Black Psychiatrists of America. He also consulted for NASA, the U.S. Arctic Research Commission and Children’s Television Network, among others. Pierce was the first African American full professor to work at Massachusetts General Hospital.