CHARLES R . DREW , MD
CHARLES R . DREW , MD
June 3 , 1904 – April 1 , 1950
Dr . Charles Richard Drew ’ s life was characterized by a passion for excellence . The University is named in honor of a most distinguished African American surgeon whose research and groundbreaking accomplishments in the collection and storage of blood plasma became the foundation and model for today ’ s system of blood donation and preservation . His work has saved over a billion worldwide since the late 1930 ’ s .
Dr . Drew was an athletic coach and biology teacher at Morgan College , Baltimore , before going on to medical school at McGill University in Canada , where he graduated with his Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery degrees in 1933 . He was an Alpha Omega Alpha scholar at McGill , and winner of the J . Francis Williams Fellowship in Medicine , awarded on the basis of a competitive examination given annually to the top five students in the graduating class . Drew returned to Washington , D . C . to do a residency in surgery at Freedmen ’ s Hospital ( later Howard University Medical Center ). A Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship took him to Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center , where his exhaustive research provided the background for his doctoral thesis : Banked Blook : A Study in Blood Preservation . He was the first African American to earn the postgraduate Doctor of Science in Medicine ( MD Sc ) degree .
At the outbreak of World War II , Dr . Drew provided crucial assistance to the war effort in Britain by developing and directing a successful blood collection and storage project in response to a request from his former McGill professor , Dr . John Beattie . The “ Blood for Britain ” program was an organization of several hospitals involved in uniform procedures of recruiting donors , collecting blood and processing and supplying plasma to the British Red Cross . Thousands of lives were saved on the battlefield through the new storage techniques , and Drew was subsequently appointed Director of the first American Red Cross blood bank , establishing an effective program for the U . S . Armed Forces . He resigned to protest the military ’ s practice of maintaining racially segregated blood banks , despite this practice having no scientific validity .
He returned to Howard in 1941 to head the department of Surgery , and in 1944 became chief of staff at Freedmen ’ s Hospital . That year , he was awarded the SPINGARN medal by the NAACP for his “ outstanding work in blood plasma .” Drew ’ s pioneering work earned him several honorary degrees and appointments on national scientific committees . On his way to a scientific meeting in Tuskegee in 1950 , Drew died in an automobile accident from severe injuries sustained at the wheel of his car . Among the myths that persist is one that he died because he was refused admittance to the segregated hospitals , or that he was not given a life-saving blood transfusion . The truth ( as confirmed by his widow and passengers in his car on that fateful journey ) was that his injuries were so severe he could not have survived , although he was given the best of care at the time . He left behind a wife , Lenore , four children ( Bebe , Charlene , Sylvia , and Charles Jr .) and a legacy of deep compassion and devotion to excellence .
39th ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT CEREMONY 25