The Spies Nutrition Clinic operated out of the Hillman Hospital from 1936 to the time of Dr. Spies' death in 1960. Dr. James McLester, president of the American Medical Association and physician-in-chief of the Hillman Hospital, first invited Dr. Spies to Birmingham in 1935 to test the Goldberger diet on local pellagrins. Dr. Spies successfully treated Birmingham area pellagrins with the Goldberger diet and remained in the city where he found an abundance of clinical material for his nutritional studies. His next success involved the use of nicotinic acid in the treatment of pellagra patients. In the 1940s, he conducted studies involving supplements of dry whole milk or nonfat dry milk solids on the growth and development of malnourished children. He also began studies in 1945 in Cuba and Puerto Rico on the use of folic acid as a treatment of tropical sprue. Nutritional research earned Dr. Spies and the clinic much popular support in Alabama and across the nation. Refusing to accept public funds, Dr. Spies gained support for his clinic through private donations. Unfortunately, however, he failed to provide for the maintenance of the clinic in the event of his death, and after he died of cancer in New York City in 1960, the clinic ceased operation.
From the description of Photograph Collection 1938-1957. (Mervyn H. Sterne Library - UAB). WorldCat record id: 31024031
