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Charles Richard Drew (June 3, 1904 – April 1, 1950) was an American physician, surgeon, and medical researcher. He researched in the field of blood transfusions, developing improved techniques for blood storage, and applied his expert knowledge to developing large-scale blood banks early in World War II. This allowed medics to save thousands of lives of the Allied forces.[1] The research and development aspect of his blood storage work is disputed.[2] As the most prominent African American in the field, Drew protested against the practice of racial segregation in the donation of blood, as it lacked scientific foundation, and resigned his position with American Red Cross, which maintained the policy until 1950.[3]
Charles R. Drew - Wikipedia
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Dr. Charles R. Drew - Through the Eyes of a Daughter
On Monday, September 22, the American Red Cross in the National Capital Region and the Greater Chesapeake and Potomac Blood Services Region rededicated the E...
Thank you my friend Maj Marty Hogan for making us aware that June 3 is the anniversary of the birth of American physician, surgeon, and medical researcher Charles Richard Drew.
Image: Charles and Lenore Drew, with their children, ca. 1947.
Background from sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/charles-richard-drew
"This barrier-breaking African American doctor and surgeon earned the title “father of the blood bank” for his lifesaving innovations in the use and preservation of blood plasma.
A native of Washington, D.C., Charles Richard Drew (1904–1950) was a gifted young athlete who earned a bachelor’s degree at Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he was 1 of only 13 African Americans in a student population of 600. From Amherst he enrolled at McGill University in Montreal, receiving his medical and surgical degrees in 1933.
While doing his residency at Montreal Hospital (1933–1935), Drew became interested in the science and medicine of blood transfusions. In 1935 he joined the faculty of the Howard University College of Medicine and then the surgical staff at Freedmen’s Hospital, which was affiliated with Howard. In 1938 he was recommended for a Rockefeller fellowship to undertake specialty surgical training at Presbyterian Hospital in New York and pursue his doctorate in medical science at Columbia University. There he engaged in a project to create an experimental blood bank under a physician named John Scudder. With Scudder, Drew did extensive original research in blood chemistry, fluid replacement, and the variables affecting blood preservation, culminating in a trial blood bank that ran for seven months and was a great success. With his 1940 doctoral thesis, “Banked Blood: A Study in Blood Preservation,” Drew became the first African American to earn a doctorate in medical science from Columbia.
World War II was already under way in Europe, and Great Britain desperately needed large quantities of blood and plasma to treat its wounded. A U.S. relief program—Blood for Britain—was initiated to collect and ship plasma overseas. Drew worked with Scudder to draw up the blueprint for Blood for Britain, using the Presbyterian Hospital experimental blood bank as a model.
The focus on plasma for the Blood for Britain program was rooted in plasma’s many advantages over whole blood. Blood has two main ingredients—red blood cells, which carry vital oxygen throughout the body, and plasma, which is mostly water with proteins and electrolytes. It turns out that plasma, though lacking in red cells, is often sufficient for replacing essential fluids and treating shock—thus saving lives until further treatment becomes available. And because it spoils less quickly than whole blood, withstands transport better, is less likely to transmit disease, and can be used with any blood type, plasma is ideal for emergency situations such as the battlefield.
Drew and his colleagues set to work developing procedures for extracting plasma (using centrifuging and sedimentation techniques), preserving it against contamination, and packaging it on a grand scale. By the time Blood for Britain concluded in January 1941, more than 14,000 blood donations were collected and 5,000 liters of plasma shipped to England under Drew’s leadership.
Blood Banking on a National Scale
Blood for Britain became the model for a pilot national blood-banking program led by Drew and others for the American Red Cross. Among his innovations for this program were the mass production of dried plasma and the introduction of bloodmobiles—mobile blood-collection units that form the basis of “blood drives” as we know them today.
After the three-month pilot program, which served as the template for the National Blood Donor Service to collect blood for the U.S. military, Drew returned to Howard University in April 1941 to pursue his long-term goal of establishing a top-level surgical program for African Americans. Having passed his American Board of Surgery exams, he was soon appointed chair of the Howard surgery department and chief of surgery at Freedman’s Hospital. In 1948 his first group of surgery residents passed their board exams.
Champion for African American Advancement and Rights
Drew tragically died in a car accident in 1950 at the age of 46. He is remembered for being outspoken against racial discrimination and segregation. Ironically, both the Blood for Britain project and the American Red Cross pilot program—to which Drew contributed so vitally—required that the blood donations of blacks be segregated from donations made by whites (the Red Cross pilot program initially did not accept black donors at all), and Drew openly criticized these policies. He also petitioned many professional medical associations, including the American Medical Association, to allow African Americans among their ranks. In 1944 Drew was awarded the Spingarn Medal, the highest honor of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People."
Dr. Charles R. Drew - Through the Eyes of a Daughter
On Monday, September 22, the American Red Cross in the National Capital Region and the Greater Chesapeake and Potomac Blood Services Region rededicated the E Street Blood Donor Center, naming it after Dr. Charles R. Drew. Dr. Drew was a pioneer in blood donation processing. In this video, Dr. Drew's daughter, the Honorable Charlene Drew Jarvis, talks about the important work performed by her father and shares her lifelong memories of the American Red Cross.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8O3Jrh5SIU
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC Orlando Illi Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price CPT Jack Durish Capt Tom Brown MSG Andrew White SFC William Farrell SGT (Join to see) Sgt Albert Castro SSG David Andrews Sgt Randy Wilber Sgt John H. CPL Dave Hoover SGT Mark Halmrast SPC Margaret Higgins SrA Christopher Wright PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
Image: Charles and Lenore Drew, with their children, ca. 1947.
Background from sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/charles-richard-drew
"This barrier-breaking African American doctor and surgeon earned the title “father of the blood bank” for his lifesaving innovations in the use and preservation of blood plasma.
A native of Washington, D.C., Charles Richard Drew (1904–1950) was a gifted young athlete who earned a bachelor’s degree at Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he was 1 of only 13 African Americans in a student population of 600. From Amherst he enrolled at McGill University in Montreal, receiving his medical and surgical degrees in 1933.
While doing his residency at Montreal Hospital (1933–1935), Drew became interested in the science and medicine of blood transfusions. In 1935 he joined the faculty of the Howard University College of Medicine and then the surgical staff at Freedmen’s Hospital, which was affiliated with Howard. In 1938 he was recommended for a Rockefeller fellowship to undertake specialty surgical training at Presbyterian Hospital in New York and pursue his doctorate in medical science at Columbia University. There he engaged in a project to create an experimental blood bank under a physician named John Scudder. With Scudder, Drew did extensive original research in blood chemistry, fluid replacement, and the variables affecting blood preservation, culminating in a trial blood bank that ran for seven months and was a great success. With his 1940 doctoral thesis, “Banked Blood: A Study in Blood Preservation,” Drew became the first African American to earn a doctorate in medical science from Columbia.
World War II was already under way in Europe, and Great Britain desperately needed large quantities of blood and plasma to treat its wounded. A U.S. relief program—Blood for Britain—was initiated to collect and ship plasma overseas. Drew worked with Scudder to draw up the blueprint for Blood for Britain, using the Presbyterian Hospital experimental blood bank as a model.
The focus on plasma for the Blood for Britain program was rooted in plasma’s many advantages over whole blood. Blood has two main ingredients—red blood cells, which carry vital oxygen throughout the body, and plasma, which is mostly water with proteins and electrolytes. It turns out that plasma, though lacking in red cells, is often sufficient for replacing essential fluids and treating shock—thus saving lives until further treatment becomes available. And because it spoils less quickly than whole blood, withstands transport better, is less likely to transmit disease, and can be used with any blood type, plasma is ideal for emergency situations such as the battlefield.
Drew and his colleagues set to work developing procedures for extracting plasma (using centrifuging and sedimentation techniques), preserving it against contamination, and packaging it on a grand scale. By the time Blood for Britain concluded in January 1941, more than 14,000 blood donations were collected and 5,000 liters of plasma shipped to England under Drew’s leadership.
Blood Banking on a National Scale
Blood for Britain became the model for a pilot national blood-banking program led by Drew and others for the American Red Cross. Among his innovations for this program were the mass production of dried plasma and the introduction of bloodmobiles—mobile blood-collection units that form the basis of “blood drives” as we know them today.
After the three-month pilot program, which served as the template for the National Blood Donor Service to collect blood for the U.S. military, Drew returned to Howard University in April 1941 to pursue his long-term goal of establishing a top-level surgical program for African Americans. Having passed his American Board of Surgery exams, he was soon appointed chair of the Howard surgery department and chief of surgery at Freedman’s Hospital. In 1948 his first group of surgery residents passed their board exams.
Champion for African American Advancement and Rights
Drew tragically died in a car accident in 1950 at the age of 46. He is remembered for being outspoken against racial discrimination and segregation. Ironically, both the Blood for Britain project and the American Red Cross pilot program—to which Drew contributed so vitally—required that the blood donations of blacks be segregated from donations made by whites (the Red Cross pilot program initially did not accept black donors at all), and Drew openly criticized these policies. He also petitioned many professional medical associations, including the American Medical Association, to allow African Americans among their ranks. In 1944 Drew was awarded the Spingarn Medal, the highest honor of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People."
Dr. Charles R. Drew - Through the Eyes of a Daughter
On Monday, September 22, the American Red Cross in the National Capital Region and the Greater Chesapeake and Potomac Blood Services Region rededicated the E Street Blood Donor Center, naming it after Dr. Charles R. Drew. Dr. Drew was a pioneer in blood donation processing. In this video, Dr. Drew's daughter, the Honorable Charlene Drew Jarvis, talks about the important work performed by her father and shares her lifelong memories of the American Red Cross.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8O3Jrh5SIU
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC Orlando Illi Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price CPT Jack Durish Capt Tom Brown MSG Andrew White SFC William Farrell SGT (Join to see) Sgt Albert Castro SSG David Andrews Sgt Randy Wilber Sgt John H. CPL Dave Hoover SGT Mark Halmrast SPC Margaret Higgins SrA Christopher Wright PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
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Its apparent We owe a lot to Dr. Drew for the savings of thousands of lives or at this point maybe well into the millions. The major impact on medicine to this very day points to the fact many tend to overlook the people that made these major contributions to medicine. I would venture to guess that much of this despite its major importance and contribution wasn't stressed due to Dr. Drew's African-American roots. that might require someone to admit that genius isn't restricted by race any more than one persons blood differs from another based on race. Thank You Dr. Drew !
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Great biography share sir, to bad this fine Doctor had a short life.
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