Charles Drew (1904-1950), Afro-American doctor. Drew was born in Washington D.C., USA, and was an outstanding athlete at school. He went on to work as a biology teacher before deciding to study medicine in Canada. He graduated in 1933 and returned to the USA where he wrote a dissertation on 'Banked Blood'. He explained that by separating plasma from the whole blood, the two components could be preserved for longer. Drew also found that a plasma transfusion could sometimes be made instead of a whole blood transfusion. He was asked to come to England to help set up the country's first blood bank. Drew died in 1950 in a car accident.