1. Charles Drew: Inventor of the Blood Bank
( )

2. Biography Born in Washington, D.C. Great athlete, Average student
Middle class interracial neighborhood
He was African American, but part English, Scot, and Indian
Athletic scholarship to Amherst College

3. Accomplishments 1938- Residency at McGill University, Canada
1940- Doctor of Medical Science degree from Columbia University
1941- Established American Red Cross Blood Bank and resigned the same year
Professor at Howard University

4. Importance Civil Rights- accomplishments of an African American
Education- Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles
Medicine- universal use of plasma as a blood “substitute”
Science- understanding properties of blood and transfusions

5. Acceptance
His research was accepted immediately. His findings saved lives of American Citizens and therefore was not questioned because of race.
However his resignation as Director of the ARC Blood Bank and his death are both surrounded by racial tensions.

6. Myth?
Dr. Drew died in a car accident near Burlington, N.C. It has been rumored that he was denied treatment by a whites only hospital. It has been documented by the other African American doctors in the car that the owner of the hospital himself helped attempt to save Dr. Drew.
Time Magazine March,1968 printed an article stating that he “bled to death” after “he was turned away by an all white hospital.”

7. Relevance to Biology Curriculum
Competency Goal 2
2.03 Investigate and analyze the cell as a living system including:
Maintenance of homeostasis.
Movement of materials into and out of cells..
2.03, 3) Discussion of Charles Drew and his impact on blood donation and blood banks. Energy use and release in biochemical reactions
2.04 Investigate and describe the structure and function of enzymes and explain their importance in biological systems.
2.05 Investigate and analyze the bioenergetic reactions:

8. Relevance to Biology Strand: Science and Technology in Society
“Science and technology also reflect a culture's values. Consider, for example, how the acceptance of new ideas can be constrained by the environment in which they are conceived. Galileo's efforts to change perceptions of Earth's place in the solar system”

9. References http://www.cdrewu.edu/
Gordon, R.C. Charles R. Drew: surgeon, scientist, and educator. Journal of investigative surgery: the official journal of the Academy of Surgical Research Sep-Oct;18(5):223-5
Black Vacuum. Time Magazine, March 29, 1968.
Trice, Linda. Charles Drew: Pioneer of Blood Plasma. New York : McGraw-Hill, 2000.
Wynes, Charles E. Charles Richard Drew: The man and the myth. University of Illinois Press
Human body: systems at work. V.1 Circulatory system: the plasma pipeline. The Cambridge Research Group, Ltd. Storyline Pictures. Publisher Lawrenceville, NJ. Cambridge Educational, c2005.