Born in washington, dc, in 1904, his father, richard, was a carpet layer and his mother, nora (née burrell), trained as a teacher. The number of people who owe their lives to dr The african american physician and surgeon pioneered the preservation of blood and plasma at the start of world war ii and remained a leading authority on the subject for the rest of his career. Drew’s success in improving blood storage led to his appointment as the first director of the american red cross blood bank in 1942 He was given the responsibility of organizing and overseeing the collection and distribution of blood across the united states. It was during his time at columbia that drew developed his pioneering method to isolate and preserve blood plasma by separating it from the other blood components, allowing scientists to stabilize and freeze it for up to two months.
OPEN
