Charles Drew - The Blood Bank http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bldrew.htm Charles Drew (1904-1950) was born on June 3, 1904 in Washington, D.C. Charles Drew excelled in academics and sports during his graduate studies at Amherst College in Massachusetts. Charles Drew was also a honor student at McGill University Medical School in Montreal, where he specialized in physiological anatomy. Charles Drew researched blood plasma and transfusions in New York City. It was during his work at Columbia University where he made his discoveries relating to the preservation of blood. By separating the liquid red blood cells from the near solid plasma and freezing the two separately, he found that blood could be preserved and reconstituted at a later date. Charles Drew's system for the storing of blood plasma (blood bank) revolutionized the medical profession. Dr. Drew also established the American Red Cross blood bank, of which he was the first director, and he organized the world's first blood bank drive, nicknamed "Blood for Britain". His official title for the blood drive was Medical Director of the first Plasma Division for Blood Transfusion, supplying blood plasma to the British during World War II. The British military used his process extensively during World War II, establishing mobile blood banks to aid in the treatment of wounded soldiers at the front lines. In 1941, the American Red Cross decided to set up blood donor stations to collect plasma for the U.S. armed forces. After the war, Charles Drew took up the Chair of Surgery at Howard University, Washington, D.C. He received the Spingarn Medal in 1944 for his contributions to medical science. Charles Drew died at the early age of 46 from injuries suffered in a car accident in North Carolina. Dr. Charles Drew .. http://shorl.com/halabrofrifrise This is the biography of Dr. Charles Drew and his pioneering research into blood plasma preservation and creator of the first blood bank in Britain, told against a history of the black civil rights movement in America. Some interesting highlights in Dr Drew's life . 1938: Drew was granted a research fellowship by the Rockefeller Foundation, and spent two years at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, (attached to Columbia University,) New York. It was here that he did research into the preservation of blood, and developed a technique for the long term preservation of blood plasma, which he found could be kept for longer than 'whole blood'. During this time he was also supervisor of the blood plasma division of the Blood Transfusion Association of New York City. 1939: Drew was asked by the British Government to establish a military blood bank program and collect blood for the British Army, in preparation for the Second World War. It was here that preserved blood plasma was used on the battlefield for the first time. The system worked so well, that the British asked him to initiate the world's first mass blood bank project. 1940: Received a Doctor of Science in Medicine degree from Columbia, for his dissertation on "Banked Blood: A Study in Preservation.". He was the first black person in America to receive this degree. 1941: Drew resigns his position of Director of the AMRC blood bank after the War Dept send out a directive stating that blood taken from White donors should not be mixed with blood taken from Black donors. He called this a stupid blunder and said "the blood of individual human beings may differ by blood groupings, but there is absolutely no scientific basis to indicate any difference in human blood from race to race." He returned to Howard University Medical school to teach surgery. 1950: On April 1st, Drew was involved in a car accident, whilst on a trip to a medical meeting at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. There is a common belief that he died because the nearby hospital refused to admit him, due to his colour, thus denying him the blood that he needed to survive. Contemporary sources state that he received prompt medical attention (in part, from the other doctors who were in the car with him) and was freely admitted to the nearby mixed-race (segregated) hospital, but died soon after from the massive injuries he sustained from the accident. Sally Rolls Pavia sallypavia2001@yahoo.com "Don't let yesterday use up too much of today." .. Cherokee Proverb List Owner: GENEALOGYBITSANDPIECES-L-request@rootsweb.com Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/GENEALOGYBITSANDPIECES "All incoming and outgoing email checked by Norton Anti-Virus"