Medicine: Out of the Basement

When Meharry Medical College in Nashville graduated its first five students in 1877, its classrooms were in a basement and its academic standing was, if possible, even lower. This month, Meharry will graduate 97 Negro doctors and dentists—nearly half of all those going out into practice in the U.S. this year—and the school has long been rated “A” by the exacting standards of the A.M.A. Last week, in another graduation of a sort, Meharry’s predominantly white trustees elected the school’s first Negro president.

Harold Dadford West, 47, the new president, is no M.D. Born in New Jersey, schooled in Washington, D.C., he took premedical courses at the University of Illinois and applied for its medical school, but was not accepted. He resigned himself to a career in chemistry (his major), and by 1927 was teaching at Meharry. With a fellowship from the Rockefeller General Education Board (Meharry’s chief patron, to the tune of more than $8,000,000 in all) he got his Ph.D. in biochemistry, at Illinois.

As head of biochemistry at Meharry, Dr. West carried on basic research into the mysteries of metabolism and nutrition: amino acids, proteins, vitamins, the amount of calcium in the blood, how iron gets into the blood (using radioactive iron as a tracer). He was elected to the American Society of Biological Chemists (one of its two Negro members) and published papers in a dozen technical journals. Two years ago, Biochemist West was named to the interim committee set up to run Meharry when its president resigned. West so impressed the trustees that his election to the presidency was unanimous. One likely result of Dr. West’s election: more responsibility for the Negro heads of departments who have come up through the ranks with him, so that the team can show how well it can run Meharry.