District of Columbia

from 1935 to 1936.[13] He then joined Freedman's Hospital, a federally operated facility associated with Howard University, as an instructor in surgery and an assistant surgeon. In 1938, Drew began graduate work at Columbia University in New York City on the award of a two-year Rockefeller fellowship in surgery. He then began postgraduate work, earning his Doctor of Science at Surgery at Columbia University. He spent time doing research at Columbia's Presbyterian Hospital and wrote a doctoral thesis, "Banked Blood: A Study on Blood Preservation," based on an exhaustive study of blood preservation techniques.[13] It was through this blood preservation research where Drew realized blood plasma was able to be preserved, two months,[5] longer through de-liquification, or the separation of liquid blood from the cells. When ready for use the plasma would then be able to return to its original state via reconstitution.[14] This thesis earned him his Doctor of Science in Medicine degree in 1940, becoming the first African American to do so.[11][15] The District of Columbia chapter of the American Medical Association allowed only white doctors to join, consequently "... Drew died without ever being accepted for membership in the AMA."[16]

In late 1940, before the U.S. entered World War II and just after earning his doctorate, Drew was recruited by John Scudder to help set up and administer an early prototype program for blood storage and preservation. Here Drew was able to apply his thesis to aid in the blood preservation and transportation. He was to collect, test, and transport large quantities of blood plasma for distribution in the United Kingdom.[17] Drew understood that plasma extraction from blood required both centrifugation and liquid extraction. Each extraction was conducted under controlled conditions to eliminate risk of contamination. Air concealment, ultraviolet light and Merthiolate were all used to mitigate the possibility of plasma contamination.[8]

Drew went to New York City as the medical director of the United States' Blood for Britain project. It was here that Drew helped set the standard for other hospitals donating blood plasma to Britain by ensuring clean transfusions along with proper aseptic technique to ensure viable plasma dispersals were sent to Britain.[11] The Blood for Britain project was a project to aid British soldiers and civilians by giving U.S. blood to the United Kingdom.

Drew created a central location for the blood collection process where donors could go to give blood. He made sure all blood plasma was tested before it was shipped out. He ensured that only skilled personnel handled blood plasma to avoid the possibility of contamination. The Blood for Britain program operated successfully for five months, with total collections of almost 15,000 people donating blood, and with over 5,500 vials of blood plasma.[17] As a result, the Blood Transfusion Betterment Association applauded Drew for his work.

American Red Cross Blood Bank
Drew's work led to his appointment as director of the first American Red Cross Blood Bank in February 1941. The blood bank supplied blood to the U.S. Army and Navy, who ruled that the blood of African-Americans would be accepted but would have to be stored separately from that of whites. Drew objected to the exclusion of African-Americans' blood from plasma-supply networks, and in 1942 he resigned in protest.[18]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_R._Drew