Dr. Jerome H. Holland was the first African American to be named Chairman of the American Red Cross. Dr. Holland was appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979. The Chairman, the highest officer in the organization, is a volunteer and presides over the Board of Governors.
During his term as American Red Cross chairman, Dr. Holland took the lead in consolidating the growing laboratory operations of Red Cross Blood Services programs. Because of this, a 110,000 square foot biomedical research and development facility in Rockville, Md., was named the Jerome H. Holland Laboratory for the Biomedical Sciences in his honor.