Charles Drew: Physician, Genius
Charles Drew (1904-1950): Charles Richard Drew was a physician, researcher, and surgeon who revolutionized our understanding of blood plasma. During World War 2 alone, his work allowed blood storage for transfusions that saved many thousands of lives. Drew was born the eldest of five children on June 3, 1904, in Washington D.C. His father was a carpet installer and his mother was a school teacher. Dr. Drew an excellent student and athlete, graduated from Washington Dunbar in 1972. After graduating from Amherst in 1926, he applied to medical school like Vivien Thomas, could not afford the tuition. He taught science at a black college in Baltimore for several years and saved his earnings. In 1929, he started medical school McGill University
in Canada. Drew’s research on blood transfusions followed the discovery that human blood could be categorized into four main types (a, b, ab, and o). Drew received his medical degree and master of surgery at McGill, and completed his residency Montreal General Hospital. He returned to Washington, D.C. to help care his family after his father died, and he began to teach Howard University’s medical school. In 1938, he accepted a fellowship to continue his blood research at Columbia University. There, Drew developed a method for processing and storing blood plasma that allowed it to be dehydrated shipped great distances, and then reconstituted just before transfusions. This was a great breakthrough. Before then, unprocessed blood was very perishable and would become unusable after about a week.
Early in World War 2, Drew received an urgent cable from his former professor, Doctor John Beattie, then in Britain. The cable asked Drew to send 5,000 ampoules of dried plasma to Britain for wartime machines. Work immediately and follow this by equal quantity in three to four weeks, the cable said. It was a shocking request: September 1940, he led the blood for Britain as Nazi Germany’s air assault on Britain reached its height.
in Canada. Drew’s research on blood transfusions followed the discovery that human blood could be categorized into four main types (a, b, ab, and o). Drew received his medical degree and master of surgery at McGill, and completed his residency Montreal General Hospital. He returned to Washington, D.C. to help care his family after his father died, and he began to teach Howard University’s medical school. In 1938, he accepted a fellowship to continue his blood research at Columbia University. There, Drew developed a method for processing and storing blood plasma that allowed it to be dehydrated shipped great distances, and then reconstituted just before transfusions. This was a great breakthrough. Before then, unprocessed blood was very perishable and would become unusable after about a week.
Early in World War 2, Drew received an urgent cable from his former professor, Doctor John Beattie, then in Britain. The cable asked Drew to send 5,000 ampoules of dried plasma to Britain for wartime machines. Work immediately and follow this by equal quantity in three to four weeks, the cable said. It was a shocking request: September 1940, he led the blood for Britain as Nazi Germany’s air assault on Britain reached its height.