He found out that plasma could be stored longer than regular blood. He served as a professor there, heading up the university's department of surgery. His efforts made the difference between life and death for hundreds of thousands of people. JavaScript must be enabled to print the page. In his youth he seemed headed for a career in athletics and the coaching field rather than for medicine, starring as a four letter man in Dunbar High School, Washington.
He was only 45 years old, but accomplished much and saved many lives through his research efforts into blood. After working together for some months, they analyzed the problems for completing a blood transfusion and issues with storing blood. From 1920 until his marriage in 1939, Drew's permanent address was in , although he graduated from Washington's in 1922 and usually resided elsewhere during that period of time. The outspoken action of Drew regarding racial matters at that time was rare because most blacks are careful not to make any disputes with the white community. Yet his experiences on the playing fields shaped his character and his approach to life as nothing else would. Drew was supervising a blood bank at the same university, he discovered a method to preserve and process blood plasma in order to lengthen its storage life and ship it to great distances. M Academy, , and Dr.
As a private university supported primarily through yearly federal appropriations of erratic size, Howard had few reserve funds. In 1941 Drew was appointed director of the first American Red Cross Bank and assistant director of blood procurement for the National Research Council, in charge of blood for use by the U. The fellowship not only gave Drew his longed-for chance to get further surgical training at a leading medical center--New York's Presbyterian Hospital--it brought him into the blood bank research and development work for which he would be best known. His injuries from his car accident were so severe that the physicians attending him could not save him. For the 1950 Tuskegee clinic, Drew drove along with three other black physicians. The surgical section of the National Medical Association has an annual Charles R.
He also was a national high hurdles champion. Drew had a lengthy research and teaching career and became a chief surgeon. For the department of surgery, Adams chose Edward Lee Howes, a young Yale-trained surgeon who was already a recognized authority on wound healing. Howard University's basic operating budget would not support the improvements envisioned by Johnson and Adams. Drew suffered fatal injuries in the wreck. On April 1, 1950, while traveling with three associates to deliver a speech at the Andrew Memorial Clinic of Tuskegee Institute, the car Drew was drivingcrashed when he fell asleep at the wheel and ran off the road outside Burlington, North Carolina.
Drew trained with Department of Surgery chair Edward Lee Howes for three years and then got a fellowship to train with eminent surgeon Allen O. Drew by issuing a stamp in his honor. At Howard, Drew firmly established a progressive modern surgery program. He is known for his research in blood plasma or blood without cells, and was responsible for founding two of the largest blood bank in the world. Though he died prematurely, Drew left a substantial legacy, embodied in his blood bank work and especially in the graduates of the Howard University College of Medicine. But athletics also played a role: in his junior year an infected football injury put him in the hospital for surgery. Drew was awarded the in 1944.
Drew was naturally great a keen intellect coupled with a retentive memory in a disciplined body, governed by a biological clock of untold energy. He criticized the policy of segregating blood racially as having no scientific basis. During Drew's residency a fire at the hospital left a number of patients badly burned, providing him with a stark demonstration of the need for a reliable blood or blood substitute supply. Drew Forum for the presentation of original surgical research, and about 20 public schools in America have been named for him. Walker Medal for all-round athletic performance in both his junior and senior years.
See facilitation guide in and. He still continued researching with John Beattie. Have students consider how their understanding of Dr. Charles Richard Drew was born on June 3, 1904 in Washington D. Because the blood had to be collected and stored separately, it was costly and time consuming.
He did, however, develop an interest in the medical sciences through his biology courses with Otto Glaser. Having decided upon a career in surgery, he went to Howard University in Washington, D. Archived from on December 12, 2013. Drew's innovation would immediately be put into practical use. Drew became Instructor in Pathology at Howard University in 1936 as well as an Assistant in Surgery, where he worked on his ideas for blood preservation. Drew found a way to store blood much longer by using only the part of the blood called plasma.