William H. Olmsted Photographs, Certificates, and Plaques | Bernard Becker Medical Library Archives

William H. Olmsted (1887-1978) was a physician emeritus of Barnes Hospital who pioneered diabetes care in the St. Louis area. In Barnes Hospital's first year of operation in 1914, Olmsted was the second medical resident to join the staff, along with acting as a clinical research pathologist. He was the first head of the hospital's chemical laboratory, and was the founding president of the Barnes Hospital Society in 1925. Olmsted became physician emeritus in 1952.

In 1920, insulin was discovered to be effective in the treatment of diabetes, and Barnes Hospital was one of the first selected in the country to use the hormone to treat patients. Since Olmsted was the resident expert in diabetes, he became the first doctor to use insulin in St. Louis. Years later, in 1949, he founded the St. Louis Diabetes Association.