The man for whom Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles, and our SNMA-MAPS chapter, is named, was a brilliant Black physician, famous for his pioneering work in blood preservation. Born in Washington, D.C. on June 3, 1904, his life ended in an auto accident just two months before his 46th birthday. The intervening years were crowded with achievements, learning and sharing his knowledge to benefit mankind. At Amherst College in Massachusetts, his athletic prowess in track and football earned him the Mossman trophy as the man who contributed most to athletics for four years. He also was an achiever in academics, graduating with honors in 1926.

Drew taught biology and served as coach at Morgan State College in Baltimore before entering McGill University School of Medicine. As a medical student, he became an Alpha Omega Alpha Scholar, won the J. Francis Williams Fellowship, based on a competitive examination given annually to the top five students in the graduating class, and received his M.D. degree in 1933. His first appointment at Howard University was as faculty instructor in pathology for 1935-36, and later an instructor in surgery and assistant surgeon at Freedmen's Hospital, a federally operated facility associated with Howard University.

Awarded a two-year Rockefeller fellowship in surgery in 1938, Drew began postgraduate work and earned his Doctor of Science in Surgery degree at Columbia University. His doctoral thesis, "Banked Blood" was based on an exhaustive study of blood preservation techniques. It was while he was engaged in research at Columbia's Presbyterian Hospital that his ultimate destiny in serving mankind was shaped. The military emergency of World War II, demanding a vital need for information and procedures to preserve blood, made Dr. Drew the "man of the hour". As the European war scene became more violent, and the need for blood plasma intensified, Drew was selected to become full-time Medical Director of the "Blood for Britain" project, supervising the successful collection of 14,500 pints of vital plasma for the British. In February 1941, he was appointed Director of the first American Red Cross Blood Bank at Presbyterian, in charge of blood for use by the U.S. Army and Navy. That same year he resigned his position with the American Red Cross blood bank after the War Department sent out a directive stating that blood taken from White donors should not be mixed with that of Black donors. This issue caused widespread controversy. He called the order a stupid blunder. He further stated that "the blood of an individual human being 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 to teach surgery at it's medical school.

In 1944, Drew received the Spingarn medal from the NAACP for his work on British and American Projects. Virginia State College conferred upon him an honorary D.Sc. in 1945, and his alma mater Amherst, conferred the same degree in 1947.

On April 1, 1950, Drew was motoring with three colleagues to the annual meeting of the John A. Andrews Clinical Association, Tuskegee, Alabama, when he was killed in a one car accident. The automobile struck the soft shoulder of the road and overturned. Drew, who was severely injured, was rushed to nearby Alamance County General Hospital, in Burlington, North Carolina, where in the words of his widow, "everything was done in his fight for life" by the hospital's medical staff. It was, however, too late to save him. At his untimely death, Charles Drew left behind a devoted wife, Lenore, four children, and a legacy of inspirational, unstinting dedication to service for all people. The U.S. Postal Service in 1981 appropriately paid tribute to Drew by issuing in his honor, a stamp in the GREAT AMERICANS series. Every blood bank in the world is a living memorial to the genius of Dr. Charles Drew. His name will live on forever in medical history. Schools and health clinics throughout the U.S. have been named in honor of Drew and his ingenious gift to mankind.

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