Charles Richard Drew: Pioneer in Blood Research

by Richard Hardwick

From his boyhood in a Washington Negro ghetto, throughout his brilliant athletic career in high school and Amherst College, Charles Richard Drew showed that he would face up to a challenge squarely. Not even the inevitable slights and frustrations could diminish his will to achieve the goals he had set for himself.

At McGill University in Canada he exhibited the promise of excellence that was to become a reality after his appointment to the staff of Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. Through his research there, he became the foremost authority on the storage and preservation of blood and the first Negro to attain the Doctor of Science in Medicine degree. He was subsequently made head of the first wartime "blood banks" and served as Medical Director of the American Red Cross blood program. Ironically, the armed services announced that non-Caucasian blood would not be acceptable. Dr. Drew voluntarily resigned his position and returned to teaching at Howard University until his untimely death in 1950.

Charles Drew, who had always eagerly advanced the case of the Negro physician, made an example of his life - an example of dedication and integrity.

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1967