| James Somerville McLester | |
| Birth Date: | January 25, 1877 |
| Birth Place: | Tuscaloosa, Alabama |
| Death Date: | February 8, 1954 |
| Death Place: | Birmingham, Alabama |
| Occupation: | Physician, nutritionist |
James Somerville McLester (January 25, 1877 – February 8, 1954) was an American physician, nutritionist and writer.
McLester was born at Tuscaloosa, Alabama.[1] He was educated at the University of Alabama and graduated M.D. from the University of Virginia in 1899.[2] [3] McLester studied medicine at Göttingen, Freiburg, Berlin and Munich.[4] In 1902, he was appointed professor of pathology at Birmingham Medical College.[1] He became professor of medicine, a post he held until 1912. He was appointed professor of medicine at the University of Alabama School of Medicine. He became professor emeritus in 1949.[1]
During World War I, McLester was commissioned as First Lieutenant in the Medical Reserve Corps.[2] He was promoted in 1918 to Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel in 1919.[2] McLester received a LL.D. degree from the University of Alabama in 1929.[2] McLester was president of the Alabama Medical Association in 1920.[5] He was Chairman of the Council on Food and Nutrition of the American Medical Association and was president in 1935.[1]
He married Ada Bowron in 1903, they had four children.[2] McLester was described as "one of the nation's outstanding nutritionists".[6] In 1953, he was awarded the Joseph Goldberger Gold Medal for outstanding work in clinical nutrition by trustees of the American Medical Association.[2] [7] McLester died from coronary thrombosis in Birmingham, Alabama.[8]
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.[9]