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 in the neck and consists of two connected lobes. The lower two thirds of the lobes are connected by a thin band of tissue called the thyroid isthmus. The thy ...

surgeon and

Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventism, Adventist Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the Names of the days of the week#Numbered days of the week, seventh day of the ...

missionary. Miller was a

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

and pioneer in the development of

soy milk Soy milk (simplified Chinese: 豆浆; traditional Chinese: 豆漿) also known as soya milk or soymilk, is a plant-based drink produced by soaking and grinding soybeans, boiling the mixture, and filtering out remaining particulates. It is a sta ...

."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 Ludlow Falls is loc ...

on July 1, 1879."Harry Willis Miller, M. D. (1879- 1977)"
Chinese SDA History. He graduated M.D. from the

American Medical Missionary College American Medical Missionary College was a private Seventh-day Adventist college in Battle Creek, Michigan. It grew out of classes offered at the Battle Creek Sanitarium. It existed from 1895 until 1910, with preclinical instruction in Battle Cree ...

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, located in the Illinois Medical District, about 3 km (2 miles) west of the Loop in Chicago. Offering a full-time Doctor of Medicine program, the school was chartered in 1837, and ...

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. Miller married Marie Iverson in 1908 and he remained in China until 1956. 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. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

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 (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

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

Mount Vernon Hospital Mount Vernon Hospital is located in Northwood, an area of north-west Greater London. It is one of two hospitals run by The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital was founded as The North London Hospital for Cons ...

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,

Hankow 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 whe ...

and

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...

. He established the

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

in 1949. He sold his factory, land, and soy milk products to

Loma Linda Foods La Loma Foods, formerly named Loma Linda Food Company and Loma Linda Foods, and with products presently branded under the name Loma Linda and Loma, is a former food manufacturing company that produced vegetarian and vegan foods. It is presently an ...

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 Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

. 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, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...

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 or fake meat, sometimes pejoratively) is a food product made from vegetarian or vegan ingredients, eaten as a replacement for meat. Meat alternatives typically approximate qua ...

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