James S. McLester

James Somerville McLester (January 25, 1877 – February 8, 1954) was an American physician, nutritionist and writer.

McLester was born at Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He was educated at the University of Alabama and graduated M.D. from the University of Virginia in 1899. McLester studied medicine at Göttingen, Freiburg, Berlin and Munich. In 1902, he was appointed professor of pathology at Birmingham Medical College. He was Chairman of the Council on Food and Nutrition of the American Medical Association and was president in 1935. In 1953, he was awarded the Joseph Goldberger Gold Medal for outstanding work in clinical nutrition by trustees of the American Medical Association. McLester died from coronary thrombosis in Birmingham, Alabama.

A portrait of McLester was unveiled in January, 2018 in the main lobby of the UAB Community Health Services Building at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Selected publications

The Diagnosis and Treatment of Disorder of Metabolism (1928) Nutrition and Diet in Health and Disease (1931, 1949)