He opened his medical office in Boston, and also served as an assistant physician in
neurology at
Boston City Hospital for two years. He spent six months in the
neuropathology laboratory of Dr.
Elmer E. Southard at
Harvard University. He moved to St. Louis, Missouri for his residency in neurology at the
Alexian Brothers Hospital and an instructor in neurology at
St. Louis University. He returned to Boston in 1912 to join the first group of residents at the newly opened
Boston Psychopathic Hospital. From 1914 to 1918, he served as the clinical director and pathologist at
Taunton State Hospital. In 1927, Myerson became director of research at
Boston State Hospital. In 1933, the Massachusetts legislature approved the building of a new laboratory for Myerson with funds provided by the
Rockefeller Foundation. In 1935, he was appointed professor of clinical psychiatry at
Harvard Medical School in recognition of the accomplishments in his research. He was also appointed assistant professor of neurology at Tufts Medical School in 1924, and from 1921 to 1940, he served as the Chair of neurology at Tufts. In 1940, Myerson became Professor Emeritus. During the first decades of the 20th century, the
eugenics movement became prominent and widely supported by lay and professional groups. Myerson disagreed with the
involuntary sterilization of
feeble minded and
mentally ill patients. While at Taunton State Hospital, he conducted a study and published his findings in
The Inheritance of Mental Disease (1925), which showed that only ten percent of in-patients had a relative who had been confined to the hospital since its opening in 1854. Myerson believed that while there could be a
heredity factor involved,
social environment also played a major role.
Career as Massachusetts state forensic examiner Myerson maintained an active practice and served as
Massachusetts state forensic examiner for eight years. He testified at the trial of
Sacco and Vanzetti. He was a supporter of
electric shock therapy and taught its use. He believed in the interdependence of mind and body and a
physiological approach in psychiatry and neurology. Myerson introduced “total push” in treating patients with chronic
schizophrenic patients and affected by the regressive and iatrogenic treatment patterns in state mental hospitals. The growth of psychoanalytic practices in the United States interested Myerson. He thought that psychoanalysis led to the examination of human beings more closely and stimulated better research in the areas of biology and physiology. Though he appreciated
Sigmund Freud’s contributions, Myerson opposed psychoanalysis. In 1932 Myerson, in his role as Psychiatric Examiner of Prisoners for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, mentored prisoner and author
Victor Folke Nelson in publishing the book
Prison Days and Nights about prisoners' psychological experiences and prison reform. Myerson wrote the introduction to Nelson's book, giving personal insight into penological theory from his perspective as a psychiatrist of prisoners.
Work with professional associations Myerson was active in professional organizations: the
American Psychiatric Association (representative to the
National Research Council), the
American Neurological Association, the
Greater Boston Medical Society, the
American Psychopathological Society (president, 1938-1939), the Advisory Council for Research in nervous and mental disease for the
U.S. Public Health Service, and director of the
Mental Hygiene Society. He published ten books and numerous scholarly research articles. ==Death and legacy==