 McCollum did not participate beyond giving lectures, but he selected the first director, William McElroy.In 1951 Johns Hopkins held a two-day symposium called "The Physiological Role of Certain Vitamins and Trace Elements"; fifteen scientists delivered papers and many of his students and former colleagues returned to see him.About two hundred people contributed several thousand dollars for the painting of an oil portrait of McCollum by Paul Trebilcock in 1954.