Charles Drew Research Paper
The person I chose to do my report on is Charles Richard Drew. I chose Charles Drew because he was a black doctor that worked with transfusing blood. I know that when people are sick or get shot and lose a lot of blood they may need a blood transfusion to help them live. I also know that blood transfusions are very important for people that have Sickle Cell because their blood gets infected and has to be replaced. I think that a black male doctor that worked with blood research is interesting. I do not know a lot of black doctor’s so to research someone that specialized in this area is why I decided to research Charles Drew. Charles Drew was born June 3, 1904 in Washington, D.C. His mother’s name was Nora Burrell and
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his father’s name was Richard Y. Drew. He was the oldest of five children. Charles Drew attended one of the strongest black public schools in the country; Dunbar High School. While at Dunbar he played football, baseball, basketball, ran track, and was an award winning swimmer. He graduated in 1922 and was awarded a partial athletic scholarship to Amherst College. After graduating from Amherst, he worked at Morgan State University for two years as a biology teacher and the college’s athletic director. Charles also attended Mc Gill University in 1928 and graduated second in his class with Masters of Surgery and Doctor of Medicine degrees. In 1935, he was an instructor of pathology at Howard University in Washington D.C. and also worked as a resident at Freedmen’s Hospital. In 1939, he attended Columbia University and worked as a resident at Columbia University Presbyterian Hospital, where he started to do the majority of his research on blood and blood transfusions. Charles Drew was the first black to receive a Doctor of Medical Science Degree from Columbia. On September 29, 1939, Charles married Lenore Robbins and had four children. In 1940, Charles and three other doctors were driving from a medical convention and were involved in a very bad car accident. The three physicians suffered minor injuries. However, Charles Drew died April 1, 1950 at the age of forty-five about thirty minutes after he first received treatment at Alamance General Hospital in Burlington, North Carolina. Charles Drew is most known and famous for blood banking and blood transfusions.
He improved techniques for storing blood. Before Charles presented his research, blood could not be stored for more than two days because the red blood cells would break down too fast. Charles discovered that by separating the plasma from the whole blood that it could be refrigerated separately and then mixed back together as needed for up to a week later for a blood transfusion. He also discovered the fact that even though everyone has a different blood type everyone has the same type of plasma. This meant that in some cases when a person would not need a whole blood transfusion, they could get a plasma transfusion no matter their blood type. Charles Drew’s knowledge of blood inspired him to ask Columbia University to set up a blood bank and was soon asked to go to England to set up and run the country’s first blood bank in England. When he traveled to Europe, World War II was just beginning. Charles developed and ran large scale blood banks in early World War II which helped save thousands of lives. He was named project director for the American Red Cross and was the first person to speak up against segregation when it came to donating blood because there was no scientific evidence to back why it should be segregated. He later resigned from his position at the Red Cross because the U.S. War Department issued a directive that blood taken from White donors should be segregated from Black donors. In 1942, he returned to Howard University to head its Department of Surgery and work as the chief of surgery at Freedmen’s hospital. In 1948 he was awarded the Spingarn Medal from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people for his work on blood plasma. In 1943, he became the first black surgeon to serve as an examiner on the American Board of
Surgery. I think that Charles Drew’s life helped society because without his research doctor’s today would not be able to do as many blood transfusions as they do. His research helped doctor’s see that blood could be stored for up to a week longer if the blood and plasma were separated and stored. This was very important to society and its citizens because blood was only being stored for two days and then thrown away because the red blood cells had broken down which made the blood not good enough for transfusing. Charles also helped society because he highlighted the fact that there was no scientific evidence to support the argument about black and white blood being separated. Without that fact, blood that is really needed to save a life would have probably not been used from a different color because of racism. I admire the fact that Charles Drew stood up for what he believed in. He resigned from his director’s position because he did not agree with the United States War Department segregating blood when he could have easily just done what they said to keep his job. He also did not let his color or what people said stop him from continuing his education or speaking out against racism. He was a black educated male doctor that was very successful, dedicated, and determined to help others according to what he learned in school and from research results.
Bibliography
Drew, Charles. “Charles R. Drew.” [Online]>Mar. 2010 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_R._Drew. March 1, 2010. Schraff, Anne E. (2003). Dr. Charles Drew: Blood Bank Inventor. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
his father’s name was Richard Y. Drew. He was the oldest of five children. Charles Drew attended one of the strongest black public schools in the country; Dunbar High School. While at Dunbar he played football, baseball, basketball, ran track, and was an award winning swimmer. He graduated in 1922 and was awarded a partial athletic scholarship to Amherst College. After graduating from Amherst, he worked at Morgan State University for two years as a biology teacher and the college’s athletic director. Charles also attended Mc Gill University in 1928 and graduated second in his class with Masters of Surgery and Doctor of Medicine degrees. In 1935, he was an instructor of pathology at Howard University in Washington D.C. and also worked as a resident at Freedmen’s Hospital. In 1939, he attended Columbia University and worked as a resident at Columbia University Presbyterian Hospital, where he started to do the majority of his research on blood and blood transfusions. Charles Drew was the first black to receive a Doctor of Medical Science Degree from Columbia. On September 29, 1939, Charles married Lenore Robbins and had four children. In 1940, Charles and three other doctors were driving from a medical convention and were involved in a very bad car accident. The three physicians suffered minor injuries. However, Charles Drew died April 1, 1950 at the age of forty-five about thirty minutes after he first received treatment at Alamance General Hospital in Burlington, North Carolina. Charles Drew is most known and famous for blood banking and blood transfusions.
He improved techniques for storing blood. Before Charles presented his research, blood could not be stored for more than two days because the red blood cells would break down too fast. Charles discovered that by separating the plasma from the whole blood that it could be refrigerated separately and then mixed back together as needed for up to a week later for a blood transfusion. He also discovered the fact that even though everyone has a different blood type everyone has the same type of plasma. This meant that in some cases when a person would not need a whole blood transfusion, they could get a plasma transfusion no matter their blood type. Charles Drew’s knowledge of blood inspired him to ask Columbia University to set up a blood bank and was soon asked to go to England to set up and run the country’s first blood bank in England. When he traveled to Europe, World War II was just beginning. Charles developed and ran large scale blood banks in early World War II which helped save thousands of lives. He was named project director for the American Red Cross and was the first person to speak up against segregation when it came to donating blood because there was no scientific evidence to back why it should be segregated. He later resigned from his position at the Red Cross because the U.S. War Department issued a directive that blood taken from White donors should be segregated from Black donors. In 1942, he returned to Howard University to head its Department of Surgery and work as the chief of surgery at Freedmen’s hospital. In 1948 he was awarded the Spingarn Medal from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people for his work on blood plasma. In 1943, he became the first black surgeon to serve as an examiner on the American Board of
Surgery. I think that Charles Drew’s life helped society because without his research doctor’s today would not be able to do as many blood transfusions as they do. His research helped doctor’s see that blood could be stored for up to a week longer if the blood and plasma were separated and stored. This was very important to society and its citizens because blood was only being stored for two days and then thrown away because the red blood cells had broken down which made the blood not good enough for transfusing. Charles also helped society because he highlighted the fact that there was no scientific evidence to support the argument about black and white blood being separated. Without that fact, blood that is really needed to save a life would have probably not been used from a different color because of racism. I admire the fact that Charles Drew stood up for what he believed in. He resigned from his director’s position because he did not agree with the United States War Department segregating blood when he could have easily just done what they said to keep his job. He also did not let his color or what people said stop him from continuing his education or speaking out against racism. He was a black educated male doctor that was very successful, dedicated, and determined to help others according to what he learned in school and from research results.
Bibliography
Drew, Charles. “Charles R. Drew.” [Online]>Mar. 2010 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_R._Drew. March 1, 2010. Schraff, Anne E. (2003). Dr. Charles Drew: Blood Bank Inventor. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.