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[[image - black & white photograph of Dr. Charles Drew in a laboratory]]

He found a way to save lives by saving blood.

When someone needs a couple of pints of blood for a transfusion, his doctor simply telephones the local blood bank and the proper type and quantity is there in minutes. Only twenty-five years ago this simple phone call was impossible.

It was not until 1941 that Dr. Charles Drew, then Director of the British Blood Plasma Project, introduced the revolutionary idea of a central depository for blood—the blood bank. As the first director of the American Red Cross Blood Bank, he supplied much needed plasma to the United States Armed Forces.

But it was not only in the banking of blood that Dr. Drew made his mark. In the 1930's, as a professor and head of surgery at Howard University Medical School, Dr. Drew trained and encouraged hundreds of young doctors. Under his strong and inspired leadership, the enrollment at Howard soared.

Shortly after the war, Dr. Drew was named surgical consultant for the United States Army. Then, a year later, his career was brought to an abrupt halt by his untimely death in an automobile accident. 

Dr. Charles Drew left an enduring mark in many fields. He had been an outstanding athlete and coach, a magnetic speaker, an inspiring teacher and dynamic administrator, a gifted scientist and, above all, a skilled surgeon.

Memorials and monuments are unnecessary, for that simple phone call serves as a constant reminder of the momentous contributions of Dr. Charles Richard Drew.