Harry Willis Miller (July 1, 1879 – January 1, 1977) was an American physician,

thyroid The thyroid, or thyroid gland, is an endocrine gland in vertebrates. In humans, it is a butterfly-shaped gland located in the neck below the Adam's apple. It consists of two connected lobes. The lower two thirds of the lobes are connected by ...

surgeon and

Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbat ...

missionary. Miller was a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

and pioneer in the development of

soy milk Soy milk (or soymilk), also known as soya milk, is a plant-based milk produced by soaking and grinding soybeans, boiling the mixture, and filtering out remaining particulates. It is a stable emulsion of oil, water, and protein. Its original ...

."Dr. Harry W. Miller: Work with Soy"
Soyinfo Center.

Biography

Miller was born in

Ludlow Falls, Ohio Ludlow Falls is a village in Miami County, Ohio, United States. The population was 175 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area. Ludlow Falls is named after surveyor Israel Ludlow. Geography According to the ...

on July 1, 1879.. Chinese SDA History. He graduated M.D. from the

American Medical Missionary College American Medical Missionary College was a Private university, private Seventh-day Adventist Church, Seventh-day Adventist college in Battle Creek, Michigan. It grew out of classes offered at the Battle Creek Sanitarium. It existed from 1895 until ...

in Battle Creek, in 1902.Staples, Russell L. (1997). ''Miller, Harry W(illis)''. In Gerald H. Anderson. ''Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions''. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. pp. 458-459. Miller studied at

Rush Medical College Rush Medical College is the medical school of Rush University, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Established in 1837, it is affiliated with Rush University Medical Center, and John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County. ...

and authored an article on blastomycetes in the ''Journal of Dermatology'' in 1903.Land, Gary. (2005). ''The A to Z of the Seventh-Day Adventists''. Scarecrow Press. pp. 192-193. With his wife Maude Thompson Miller, he went to Shanghai in 1903. She died less than two years later from

sprue A sprue may refer to: *Sprue (manufacturing), a feature in molding and casting molds *Coeliac disease, also known as sprue, a disease of the small intestine *Tropical sprue Tropical sprue is a malabsorption disease commonly found in tropical reg ...

. Miller married Marie Iverson in 1908 and he remained in China until 1956. With Arthur Selmon, he established ''The Gospel Herald'', which was renamed to Chinese Seventh-Day Adventist Press. It was moved to Shanghai in 1909, and in 1911 was renamed to the Signs of the Times Publishing House. He specialized in surgery and as a missionary generalist. He served as a leader of the SDA Church in China. It is estimated that Miller performed 6,000 thyroid operations."Dr. Harry W. Miller, 'China Doctor,' Dies"
''The New York Times''. He served as superintendent of the China Mission in Shanghai (1908-1909) and established the China Training Institute in Chouchiakou. He returned to the United States in 1911. Miller was medical director and secretary of Washington Sanitarium (1913–1925). He returned to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

in 1925 and managed the Shanghai Hospital and Sanitarium. Miller researched the production of soy milk and published an article in the ''

Chinese Medical Journal The ''Chinese Medical Journal'' is an official publication of the Chinese Medical Association, co-published by Chinese Medical Association Publishing House and Wolters Kluwer Medknow. The journal publishes peer-reviewed English-language articles, ...

'' on a soy infant formula in 1936. Miller is credited in 1936 with starting the first production of soy milk in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. Miller returned to the United States in 1939. He was medical director of

Mount Vernon Hospital Mount Vernon Hospital is a hospital located in Northwood, London, Northwood in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It is one of two hospitals run by The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the other being Hillingdon Hospital. History ...

and established the International Nutrition Laboratory to produce soy products. With his son he formed the International Nutrition Foundation on a 140-acre farm in Mount Vernon. The soy farm produced canned and malted soy milk. His first American soy milk product was known as Soyalac in 1941. Miller administered hospitals in Shanghai,

Hankou Hankou, alternately romanized as Hankow (), was one of the three towns (the other two were Wuchang and Hanyang) merged to become modern-day Wuhan city, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers w ...

and

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

. He established the

Taiwan Adventist Hospital The Taiwan Adventist Hospital (TAH; ) is a non-profit Seventh-day Adventist hospital in Songshan District, Taipei, Taiwan. Since 1989, Taiwan Adventist Hospital has been giving medical care to patients from Australia, Canada, India, Japan, Korea ...

in 1949. He sold his factory, land, and soy milk products to Loma Linda Foods in 1951. Loma Linda Foods was owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. However, Miller continued to conduct research in at Loma Linda Food factory in La Sierra until his death. In 1956, he was awarded the Blue Star of China by Chiang Kai-shek. In 1960, Miller helped in forming the Hong Kong Adventist Hospital. In total there were 19 hospitals that Miller was instrumental in starting all over the Far East. A biography of Miller was published in 1961. Miller died in

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. As of the 2020 census, the city has a population of 314,998. It is the most populous city in th ...

on January 1, 1977.

Vegetarianism

Miller stated that he became a vegetarian for its health and longevity aspects. He was a pioneer in popularizing

as a satisfactory substitute for animal milk and making it available to feed the poor in areas where there was no cow's milk.Walker, Joseph. (1973). ''Hong Kong Who's Who: An Almanac of Personalities and Their Comprehensive Histories''. Rola Luzzatto. p. 320 He conducted research on vegetarian

meat substitutes A meat alternative or meat substitute (also called plant-based meat, mock meat, or alternative protein), is a food product made from vegetarian or vegan ingredients, eaten as a replacement for meat. Meat alternatives typically approximate qual ...

and proteins. He was influential in bringing soy-based foods to the United States.

Selected publications

*''The Way to Health'' (1920) *''Tuberculosis: A Curable Disease'' (1954)

Biography

Vegetarianism

Selected publications

References

Further reading