Dr. Counter: A Renaissance Man

Dr. S. Allen Counter is a busy, busy man, and getting an hour-long interview with him is a rare honor. His wide range of academic interests and social connections become immediately apparent as he sits in Loker Common and waves and smiles at a student or colleague every few minutes.

"I've always felt at home in any part of the world," Counter says. "I meet friends, not strangers." Counter, who is simultaneously a neuroscientist, director of the Harvard Foundation and a member of the Explorers Club of New York, has traveled to all continents of the world save one: Australia.

"And I plan to go there sometime soon," Counter says.

Counter's scientific research over the years has included mapping the cricket brain, studying acupuncture in the Republic of China and studying why Eskimo men go deaf, which also led to his discovery of the half-Eskimo children of American Arctic explorers Matthew A. Henson and Robert E. Peary in Northwest Greenland.

Counter, who has studied nerves and muscle synapses all his life, is dedicated to the furtherance of intercultural understanding and the promotion of social service. In the last decade or so, Counter has expanded his research to include the field of medical anthropology as well as neuroscience.

"I've done basic science, looking at neurons and coded signals," Counter says. "That kind of science has gotten me very far. At this point in my career, [however,] I want to do field work that will enable me to help others while I answer important research questions and that will permit me to take students into the field."

Counter's current work on neurotoxicology, particularly on the high lead exposure among Andean villagers, is a case in point.

The children of the lead-glazing village of La Victoria, Ecuador, have the highest lead concentration in their blood, putting them at an enormously high risk for brain damage.

Counter's team conducted experiments to determine the extent of environmental damage and to devise alternative cottage industries to replace lead-glazing. They also successfully lobbied the Ecuadoran minister to finance a daycare facility at the village and are in the process of identifying chemical engineers to remove lead-contaminated soil from key areas of the village. Counter even brought a Harvard student film group to make a documentary about it.

Another neurotoxicology topic that occupies him involves mercury exposure in the Amazon as a result of gold mining. Such exposure can cripple the human nervous system. Last year, Counter met with actor and conservationist Harrison Ford, the 1996 Hasty Pudding Man of the Year, to publicize the cause.

Nevertheless, these far-flung projects do not keep Counter from carrying out socially-oriented work in Boston, such as the time he examined the nervous system of a blind, incapacitated 28-year-old woman born without a brain save for a centimeter-thick layer of tissue behind her eyes. Against the opinion of his colleagues, Counter successfully proved that the woman could hear.

"I was so moved, I went out and bought her a Sony Walkman and tapes of Tchaikovsky and Michael Jackson, Counter recalls.

At the University, Counter says that his work as director of the Harvard Foundation is built on a foundation of hope for improving intercultural understanding.

Appointed in 1981 by then-President Derek C. Bok, Counter says that his experience at the Foundation has been extremely rewarding.

"I said a few years. I never said 15 years," laughs Counter, who has been at the Foundation for 17 years now. Over the years, he has helped student groups bring notables such as Mary Robinson, president of Ireland, Secretaries General of the United Nations Javier Perez-DeCullar and Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Nobel laureate and Archbishop Desmond Tutu to promote peace and intercultural understanding.

Counter has also appeared on local and national television programs ranging from children's science shows like "3-2-1 Contact" and "Spaces" to talk shows. Counter, who is especially interested in increasing the scientific literacy of young people, presents talks and videos on science education to elementary, junior high and high school students in Boston and throughout the nation.

Counter fervently wishes to pass on his scientific tradition to women and minorities, as well as to the younger generation in general.

"I really thank people like [Leverett House Master] John [E.] Dowling ['57] for becoming a mentor to me when it wasn't that popular to mentor African-Americans. I want to pass [the tradition] on," Counter says.

But Counter also says that another reason for such a wish is that the world needs socially-committed, culturally-knowledgeable and diverse scientists, mentioning in particular his experience in La Victoria, where the population is predominantly Quechua Indian and mestizo.

"Our team was a multicultural team--Swedish, Hispanic American...," Counter says. "[The villagers] were really appreciative. They'd say to us, as opposed to less diverse groups, 'You come to our homes, you eat with us. We want you to come back.'"