DR CHARLES RICHARD DREW-BLOOD BANK

excerpt from A SALUTE TO BLACK SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS, Vol. II, an Empak "Black History" Publication Series

Dr. Charles Richard Drew was a world renowned surgeon, medical scientist, educator and authority on the preservation of blood.  He was the pioneer of blood plasma preservation, leaving mankind an important legacy-the blood bank.

Born in 1904, in Washington, DC, he was the eldest of five children born to Charles and Nora Drew.... Charles Drew loved sports and was a tough competitor.  He could have become a professional athlete or coach, but  his desire to become a doctor was stronger.  In 1928, Drew entered McGill University Medical School in Montreal, Canada, and won membership in its Medical Honorary Society.  It was at McGill that he became interested in blood research.  He received his Master of Surgery and Doctor of Medicine degrees in 1933.

After internship at the Royal Victoria Hospital and the Montreal General Hospital, in Canada, he taught at Howard University's Medical School.  Afterwards, at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, in New York City, he researched a process for blood preservation.  During his two years at Columbia, he developed a technique for the long-term preservation of blood plasma.  He earned the Doctor of Science in Medicine degree in 1940, with a dissertation on "Banked Blood."

In World War II, England suffered heavy casualties and called upon Dr. Drew to initiate its military blood bank program.  There he introduced preserved blood plasma on the battlefield.  This system worked so well that the British asked him to organize the world's first mass blood bank project.  Dr. Drew also became the first Director of the American Red Cross Blood Bank.

Dr Drew was killed in an automobile acident while on a trip to a medical meeting at Tuskegee Institutee in 1950.  The irony of his death is that his life may have been saved if he had received immediate medical attention following the accident.  Discrimination at nearby White hospitals did not allow him the blood transfusions needed to save his life.

Every blood bank in the world is a living memorial to the genius of Dr. Charles Richard Drew.  His name will live forever in medical history.  Schools and health clinics throughout the United States have been named in honor of Drew and his ingenious gift to mankind.