CDU News | Page 13
CDU : How has Dr . Drew ’ s legacy as a father and as a medical pioneer helped shape who you are today ?
Ms . Drew Ivie : I think my interest in health and health care advocacy comes naturally from the environment of medicine in his life , and the injustice of the Red Cross insistence that blood donations be labeled by race that he had been asked to collect for American soldiers in WWII in Europe . His high school and college classmate , William Montague Cobb , MD , PhD , was also a big influence on me pursuing health care access as a civil rights issue . Dr . Cobb took me to the 1963 March on Washington attended by 300,000 people . We sat right down front as Martin Luther King delivered his ‘ I have a Dream ’ speech . That was the day I decided to join the fight against injustice in all its various forms including denial of access to health care .
CDU : What do you believe your father would be most proud of about the University that now bears his name ?
Ms . Drew Ivie : My father was an educator and nothing delighted him more than to see his students thrive in their knowledge and command of medicine . He was a born teacher , so to have a University training the next generation of healthcare professionals would thrill him immensely . His advocacy for the race was accomplished by doing and showing what excellence could achieve , not by marching or decrying society ’ s wrongs . It was an old fashioned approach to securing change , but his students went on to head departments of surgery in every major public hospital across the south . No such cadre of Black surgeons had existed before that time . Our students today similarly take leadership positions reflecting their academic excellence and their devotion to those most in need . He would be so proud of them were he here today and grateful for all the faculty who invest their talents in their students ’ training and success !