Dr. Harold Dadford West

The building before you was named for Harold Dadford West. Born in Flemington, New Jersey in 1904, West attended the University of Illinois and went on to receive his master’s and PhD from the university, in 1930 and 1937 respectively. After serving as a professor of chemistry and chairing the Department of Science at Morris Brown College in Atlanta, West joined the Chemistry Department at Meharry Medical College in 1927. His research in biochemistry was widely published, and he is well-known in science circles as the first chemist to synthesize the amino acid threonine. West was the first person with a PhD to join the Meharry faculty, and he founded the graduate degree program in biochemistry.

In 1938, he was promoted to chairman of the Department, and in 1952, he became the first African American president of Meharry. Under his leadership, the school’s endowment increased from four to seven million dollars and funding for research increased tenfold. In 2020, the school’s endowment topped $120 million!

Dr. West was named the first honorary member of the National Medical Association in 1964 and retired as president in 1965. The Harold Dadford West Basic Sciences Building opened in 1976 and houses administrative offices, lecture halls, and laboratories.

Keep walking up 21st Ave into the Meharry campus. Your next stop is the Cal Turner Family Center on your right. As you walk, look to your left to see an open-air amphitheater where campus and community events are held. Behind the amphitheater is the Lloyd C. Elam Mental Health Center. The Center was named for former Meharry president (1968-1981) Dr. Lloyd C. Elam, a psychiatrist who founded the college’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and opened one of the first psychiatric day programs in the city.