20 Years, 20 Leaders: June Jackson Christmas, MD
Image via Vassar College-Karl Rabe
“When we motivate others we just don’t look at a person. We look at a person and at their environment.”
Our connection to the experiences of those who came before helps to define the present and future of medicine. The Foundation is celebrating 20 years by joining in conversation with 20 women leaders in all aspects of medicine to understand their stories and how their experiences will shape the next generation.
June Jackson Christmas, M.D., is a psychiatrist and former New York City Commissioner of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Alcoholism Services, the first woman and first African-American to hold the post. She also was a member of President Jimmy Carter’s transition team, and founded the Harlem Rehabilitation Center, a community psychiatric program. The Dr. June Jackson Christmas Medical Student Summer Clinical Fellowship offers a chance for medical students who belong to historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups to explore a career in psychiatry at Columbia Medical School. Dr. Christmas was president of the American Public Health Association and vice president of the American Psychiatric Association.
Here’s what we learned during our conversation with Dr. Christmas.
Why did you choose to go into medicine or your related field?
Growing up as an African-American in Cambridge, Massachusetts, I was exposed to discrimination and prejudice. But knowing that New England was on the forefront of abolition, I also was aware that there are many people who are not racists. My sister and I were imbued with the notion that racism was something we had to do something about. Maybe if I went into psychiatric medicine I could teach people not to be racist and to be anti-bias.
What’s your core philosophy?
“Each one teach one,” the African-American proverb.
What motivates you?
Seeing people begin to change and have an “ah-ha moment.” It’s very gratifying.
How do you motivate others?
Let people know that you are on their side. That you are behind them and you are supportive. I do care that a patient or staff person is able to stand up for himself or herself. When we motivate others we just don’t look at a person. We look at a person and at their environment.
What challenges have you had to overcome?
The challenge of racism. People ask me if it’s harder to be a woman or a black person. I was one of the first three women to self-identify as black and graduate from Vassar. I had great barriers of racism and sexism in looking for internships. But I have to say that the barrier of racism is greater than being a woman. I interviewed for a residency and the man who was interviewing me said he was concerned that I, as an African-American woman, would be too sexually stimulating to men patients. When I was looking for an office in Manhattan in the 1960s, at least a third of the agents I spoke with on the telephone said they could guarantee me that there were no blacks or Puerto Ricans in the building. It was so hard to find a place to live that my husband and I wound up going to court, where we prevailed. As a result, they changed the Fair Housing Act in New York.
Humans fail. Please share a time when you failed and what you did next to move forward.
I was in private practice on the Upper West Side, working part time as I had small children. I realized at the rate I was going, working Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, seeing maybe four or five patients a day, some of them the same patients three times a week, that I was not helping as many patients as I wanted to. I realized I had to see more people. Harlem Hospital was just getting a psychiatry department and was faced with the problem of how to help chronically mentally ill people coming into the community. So, we started the rehabilitation center. I also failed in not seeing immediately that every community has its own voice. For example, people in the Chinese community don’t talk openly about their problems. We fixed the problem by bringing in voices from various communities that we served, such as alcoholics and parents of children with Down syndrome.
Who was your most important mentor(s) and why?
Dr. Elizabeth Davis, who took up the challenge of setting up a department of psychiatry at Harlem, gave me the opportunity to travel around the country and see what people were doing. Dr. Louis Levin, a white psychiatrist from California, and Dr. Beny Primm, a black addiction specialist from Brooklyn, stimulated me to think creatively.
What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned?
You need someone in your life who has your back. My husband was there for me always to criticize, to comment, to be the wind beneath my wings.
How do you define success and how do you measure up to your own definition?
Knowing where you are going and not hesitating too long to take that next step forward. We don’t always succeed. Sometimes we act and sometimes we think about acting.
What do you see in store for the future of medicine and the related fields?
When I was at Bellevue and antipsychotic drugs were just being developed, people were still getting shock treatment. Today, we aren’t limited by our models. We understand so much more about neuroscience. I worked with a doctor who used to pick up a schizophrenic child and twirl her around, like they were playing. At the time it seemed strange. But looking back, I think it might have been a novel approach, a way to connect with the child.
What advice would you give to the next generation of women in medicine and the medical sciences?
Let us carry on the struggle. Because there still is a struggle.
The Backstory on Dr. Christmas
June Jackson Christmas was born in 1924 in Boston, Massachusetts. She graduated from Vassar College and the Boston University School of Medicine and taught at Columbia University. She is a three-time trustee of Vassar College, the President’s Distinguished Visitor, and an AAVC Distinguished Achievement Award recipient, presented to an alumna/alumnus in recognition of her or his extraordinary commitment, leadership, and service in promoting the goals and highest interests of Vassar College and the alumnae/i association. Since 1995, the Africana Studies Program has presented the June Jackson Christmas Prize for Academic Excellence in Africana Studies at Vassar.