ABSTRACT
Charles R. Drew (1904-1950) was a surgeon whose life was cut short by an automobile accident at age 45, yet during that time he made many continuing contributions to the care of surgical patients, and to the acceptance of African-American medical graduates as sur geons. He was born into a middle class black family inWashington, D.C., and after attending elite Dunbar High School in that city, entered Amherst on an athletic scholarship. Upon graduation he took the position of Director of Athletics and instructor in chemistry and biology at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD. He was able to save enough money there to enter the McGill University medical school in Montreal where he graduated in 1933. He then completed a rotating internship and a year as resident in internal medicine be fore returning to Washington where he was appointed an instructor in pathology at Howard University. Drew had also continued his interest in athletics while atMcGill and won Canadian awards for hurdle and high and low jump, in addition to maintaining an excel lent academic record, for which he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society.1
