He was a frequent leader in the struggle for integration, especially in medicine. In 1920, early in his tenure at Harlem Hospital, he played a key role in fighting the precedent in New York whereby African-American doctors and nurses were barred from serving in municipal hospitals. He actively opposed segregated hospitals, including a successful effort in 1930 to stop the construction of a new such facility proposed by the Rosenwald Fund. In working towards equality in medicine and medical education, he advocated for raising standards for black medical students, leading to some pushback from peers whom had become used to having a different set of requirements.