The African American Legacy: Dr. Richard Drew (1904

Dr. Richard Drew (1904 – 1950)

Dr. Richard Drew, a genius in his field, would help to save millions of lifes through his pioneering work in blood preservation.

Background:

Born June 3, to Thomas and Nora Drew, Richard grew up living close to a farm , where he grew to care and groom them (as well as becoming an expert rider). Richard attended stevens Elementary School and Paul Dunbar Highschool in later years. In highschool he excelled at baseball, football, basketball and track and even won the "James E.Walker Memorial Medal" as the outstanding all-around athlete.

Richard eventually attended Amherst College, and after graduation taught biolgy for 2 years, before entering medical school. In 1940 he became the first African American to earn a Doctor of Science in Medicine Degree, which involved his doctorial thesis titles, "Banked Blood".

Invention

Blood Bank: During the early years of WWII, where the need for blodd plasma started to intensify, the British were need of blood for their wounded. Dr.Drew was choosen to lead the Blood for Britain program, where he arranged for plasma to be flown to Britain, and set up several blood banks in the country. In February 1941, he was appointed Director of the first American Red Cross Blood Bank, being in charge of blood for use by the U.S Army and Navy. He resigned later though, from the War department sending out a directive that blood taken from white donors, not to be mixed with white donors (which has no basis in scientific fact). This issue caused widespread controversy, and later changed, thanks to Dr.Drew and others whom shown the fallacy.

He eventually returned to Howard University, gaining new distinction. As well as spending time in two more blood projects, in his newly appointed scientific committess. His work proved invaluable, and during WWII, 35 blood banks centers were in operation, saving thousands of lives of wounded U.S servicemen (which would have been lost in earlier wars, due to the fact of blood therapy being unknown)

Legacy: At the age of 45, Dr.Drew was sadly killed during an automobile accident while driving to a scientific Conference. Even though he's not here today, his pioneering medical work has continued to help save the lifes of many people worldwide; allowing his legacy to remain intact for years to come.