Peter Marshall Murray (1888–1969) grew up in Louisiana, the son of a longshoreman and a laundress who eventually became a nurse. His mother encouraged him to pursue a medical career, and he received his degree from Howard University in 1914, taking an internship and then a position at the Freedmen’s Hospital in Washington, D.C., after graduation. In 1921, he and his wife, a singer and music teacher, moved to New York in search of better professional opportunities. Murray first shared a Harlem medical office with Dr. Wylie Merlio Wilson, a fellow Howard graduate who also ran a private sanitarium, before accepting a position at Harlem Hospital in 1928.

By January 1936, when he was elected a Fellow, Murray had already served as the president of the National Medical Association, the country’s oldest professional organization for Black physicians. The New York State Medical Association elected him a delegate to the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association in 1949, and he was the first Black physician in the country to serve in that capacity. His extraordinary commitment to professional service led to more than 20 years of work on the Academy’s Committee on Medical Education, as well as a term as president of the New York County Medical Society, a term as vice president of the Hospital Council of Greater New York, an appointment to the President’s National Medical Advisory Committee on Health Resources, and election to the boards of trustees of a number of organizations. In recognition of his many accomplishments, the Academy awarded him the Academy Plaque, for exceptional service, in 1969.