James Somerville McLester (January 25, 1877 – February 8, 1954) was an American physician, nutritionist and writer.

[1] During World War I, McLester was commissioned as First Lieutenant in the Medical Reserve Corps.

[5] He was Chairman of the Council on Food and Nutrition of the American Medical Association and was president in 1935.

[6] In 1953, he was awarded the Joseph Goldberger Gold Medal for outstanding work in clinical nutrition by trustees of the American Medical Association.

[8] A portrait of McLester was unveiled in January, 2018 in the main lobby of the UAB Community Health Services Building at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.