Charles R. Drew was the first black surgeon examiner of the American Board of Surgery. He was a revolutionary in the field, he created a system to allow the immediate and safe transfusion of blood plasma, he devloped large scale blood banks and so much more. And this was all just after World War II!

Charles was born on 3rd June 1904 in Washington DC. He earned an athletic scholarship to Amherst College in Massachusetts after his excellent grades and athletic performance.

He graduated in 1926, getting a job as the director of Director of Athletics at Morgan College before heading to McGill in Montreal, Canada to study medicine.

Whilst attending McGill he started studing blood storage along with Dr. Beattie. After graduating in 1933 he became a professor at Howard University’s medical school in DC. He continued his work here!

Blackpast.org wrote:

In 1938, the Rockefeller Foundation offered Drew a research fellowship at New York’s Columbia – Presbyterian Medical Center to study blood. While there he discovered that plasma, a pale yellow liquid without the blood cells could be stored, preserved, and used in time of emergency. Shortly after receiving a Ph.D., he was asked to direct a pilot program for collecting, testing, and distributing blood plasma in Great Britain. During the five-month program, Drew and his associates collected blood from over 15,000 people and gave about 1,500 transfusions.

With the success of the program, Drew gained international fame and was appointed director of the first American Red Cross Plasma Bank. During World War II, he recruited 100,000 blood donors for the U.S. Army and Navy. Their blood saved the lives of thousands of wounded soldiers. Ironically, the U.S. armed forces maintained a segregated blood donation system that refused to give blood from non-whites to white soldiers. Drew denounced the policy, stating that there’s no scientific evidence of any difference based on race, and was consequentially asked to resign. He returned to Washington D.C and became the head of Howard University’s Department of Surgery and later Chief Surgeon at the University’s Freedman’s Hospital.

Unfortunately he died on April 1st 1950, he fell asleep at the wheel on the way to a Tuskegee Institute (Alabama) medical conference and became trapped in the overturned car. Despite efforts medical staff were unable to save his life.

So much achieved in such a short life.