William Welch, dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, quickly appointed Adolf Meyer as the director of the clinic, a renowned psychiatrist at the time.

Germany was at the forefront of psychological studies and treatments, but Dr. William Welch of the Johns Hopkins Hospital looked to change that by educating the public through a national campaign against mental ill health.

[3] On a routine visit to check on his investments in the Tuberculosis Clinic, philanthropist Henry Phipps asked Dr. William Welch if there were any other departments that needed assistance.

A book called A Mind That Found Itself by Clifford Whittingham Beers inspired Welch to request an investment so Johns Hopkins could become a leader in psychiatry.

Gantt initiated a program investigating the nervous disturbances in dogs by combining a physiological method with a psychiatric problem.