The Black Scholars Index » Biology

Dr. Charles R. Drew: First Black Surgeon to Serve on American Board of Surgery

Leshell Hatley — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 15:21:16 +0000

Charles Richard Drew (3 June 1904 – 1 April 1950) was an African-American physician, surgeon and medical researcher. He researched in the field of blood transfusions, developing improved techniques for blood storage, and applied his expert knowledge to developing large-scale blood banks early in World War II. This allowed medics to save thousands of lives of the Allied forces. The research and development aspect of his blood storage work is disputed. Drew protested against the practice of racial segregation in the donation of blood, as it lacked scientific foundation, an action which cost him his job. In 1943, Drew’s distinction in his profession was recognized when he became the first black surgeon selected to serve as an examiner on the American Board of Surgery.

Early Life

Drew was born to Richard Y. Drew and Nora Burrell in Washington, DC. He attended Meads Mill Elementary School, and began working as a paperboy selling copies of the Washington Times-Herald while attending school. In 1918, he enrolled at Dunbar High School, a racially segregated high school with a reputation for being one of the strongest academic Black public schools in the country. Drew’s sister Elsie, who was ailing with tuberculosis, died of pandemic influenza in 1920. Her death was said to influence his decision to study medicine.

Education

His athletic achievements helped win him a partial scholarship to Amherst College in Massachusetts. Drew became a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. He did graduate work at McGill University, Montreal, and Columbia University, New York, where he earned his PhD. He become the first African-American man to earn a degree of Doctor of Science in Medicine.

Academic Career

Drew became a researcher and general surgeon, teaching and practicing within medical schools and teaching hospitals. He worked and taught at Freedman’s Hospital, Morgan State University, Montreal General, and Howard University. Soon after he began his career, in 1943 he was invited as the first black to be an examiner for the American Board of Surgeons.

Blood Plasma for Great Britain Project

Dr. Charles Richard Drew

In late 1940, during World War II before the US entered the war, 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. He was to collect, test, and transport large quantities of blood plasma for distribution in Great Britain. Drew went to New York to direct the United States’ Blood for Britain project. The Blood for Britain project was a project to aid British soldiers and civilians by giving US blood to Great Britain.

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. As a result, the Blood Transfusion Betterment Association applauded Drew for his work.

End of Life

From 1939, Drew attended the annual free clinic at the John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama. For the 1950 Tuskegee clinic, Drew and three other black physicians decided to drive rather than fly. Drew was driving around 8 a.m. on April 1. Still fatigued from spending the night before in the operating theater, Drew lost control of the vehicle. After careening into a field, the car somersaulted three times. The three other physicians suffered minor injuries. Drew was trapped with serious wounds; his foot had become wedged beneath the brake pedal. When reached by emergency technicians, Drew was in shock and barely alive due to severe leg injuries. Drew was taken to Alamance General Hospital in Burlington, North Carolina. He was pronounced dead a half hour after he first received medical attention. Drew’s funeral was held on April 5, 1950, at the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in Washington, DC.

Urban Legend

A persistent urban legend holds that Drew was denied care—ironically, a blood transfusion—at a nearby hospital because of his race and bled to death. Dr. John Ford, one of the doctors traveling with Drew contradicted this in an interview: “We all received the very best of care. The doctors started treating us immediately. [...] He had a superior vena caval syndrome—blood was blocked getting back to his heart from his brain and upper extremities. To give him a transfusion would have killed him sooner. Even the most heroic efforts couldn’t have saved him. I can truthfully say that no efforts were spared in the treatment of Drew, and, contrary to popular myth, the fact that he was a Negro did not in any way limit the care that was given to him.”

Visit http://www.cdrewu.edu/about-cdu/dr-charles-drew for more information.

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Information from wikipedia.

Images from:

http://www.africamaat.com/CHARLES-RICHARD-DREW-1904-1950-Le

http://publicdomainclip-art.blogspot.com/2008/05/dr-charles-r-drew.html

[HBCU Presidents] Dr. Norris Edney (Interim President): Alcorn State University

Leshell Hatley — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:29:04 +0000

Dr. Norris Edney was appointed interim president of Alcorn State University on January 21, 2010, by the Board of Trustees of the State Institutions of Higher Learning. Dr. Edney spent most of his career at Alcorn in various roles of teaching and administration. He is knowledgeable about the university and is well-respected among faculty and staff.

Time At Alcorn State

Dr. Edney started to work for Alcorn as biology instructor in 1963 and worked his way up to senior leadership positions. Throughout his career, he has served the University in various capacities including dean of Graduate Studies, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences and chairman of the Department of Biology. He also worked as director for the Natchez Nursing Program from initiation of the program thru the second accreditation cycle.

Dr. Edney’s extensive managerial experience also includes serving as the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) president, and Natchez – Adams County School Board president. Among his areas of expertise are: administration and supervision in higher education; environmental science; ecology; systematic botany; improving the quality of teaching science in elementary, secondary, undergraduate and graduate schools.

Education

Dr. Edney has an associates degree from Natchez Junior College, an undergraduate degree in biology from Tougaloo College, a master of science teaching degree from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Co., and a doctorate degree in conservation from Michigan State University.

Service & Accomplishments

Throughout his career, Dr. Edney authored 32 publications. His numerous professional accomplishments and awards include receiving First Annual White House Initiative Faculty Award for Excellence in Science and Technology; National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO) Research Scientist of the Year Achievement Award; Natchez Junior College 1990 Alumni of the Year; Award of Merit-National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Service Eligibility Chairman; Outstanding Service Award, Alcorn State University, Department of Biology; and SWAC Distinguished Service Award. He is listed in Who’s Who in Ecology and in American Men of Science. Dr. Edney was inducted into SWAC Hall of Fame, received Distinguished Service Award, Capital City Classic, Inc., Outstanding Agriculture Researcher, Alcorn State University; and SWAC Lifetime Achievement Award.

IN MEMORIAM: Our Thoughts and Prayers for the Families, Friends, of the 3 Victims of the Horrible Univ of Alabama Shooting – 2 of the 3 were African American

Leshell Hatley — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 23:43:08 +0000

Our thoughts are with the families, colleagues, and friends of the three victims of the horrific shootings that took place last Friday on the campus of the University of Alabama at Huntsville.

We note that two of the three professors shot and killed at a meeting of the biology department faculty were African Americans. The 3rd was Dr. Gopi Podila.

Maria Ragland Davis was a 52-year-old associate professor of biology who specialized in plant pathology and biotechnology. She had been on the university’s faculty since 2002. Dr. Davis was a graduate of the University of Michigan. She held a master’s degree in chemical engineering and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from North Carolina State University.

Adriel D. Johnson was an associate professor of biology and had been on the faculty at the university for more than 20 years. A longtime mentor of minority students, Dr. Johnson was director of the campus chapter of the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. Professor Johnson was a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis. He held master’s degrees from Tennessee Technological University and the University of Alabama at Huntsville. He earned his Ph.D. at North Carolina State University.

Dr. Rick Kittles: Biologist, Specializes in Human Genetics, AfricanAncestry.com

Leshell Hatley — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:20:31 +0000

Rick Antonius Kittles is an African-American biologist specializing in human genetics. He is the Scientific Director of AfricanAncestry.com, and achieved renown in the 1990s for his pioneering work in tracing the ancestry of African Americans via DNA testing.

Education

He grew up in Central Islip, New York. He holds a B.S. degree in biology from the Rochester Institute of Technology (1989), an M.S. degree in biology from the State University of New York at Brockport (1991) and a Ph.D. in biology from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. (1998).

Career

In the early 1990s he began his career as a teacher in several New York and Washington, D.C. area high schools. From approximately 1997 until 1999, as a researcher with the New York African Burial Ground Project (NYABGP), a federally funded project in New York City, in which Howard University researchers, led by anthropologist Michael Blakey, exhumed the remains of 408 African Americans from an 18th-century graveyard; Kittles gathered DNA samples from the remains and compared them with samples from a DNA database to determine from where in Africa the individuals buried in the graveyard had come.

Beginning in 1998, as he was completing his Ph.D. at George Washington University, Kittles was hired as an assistant professor of microbiology at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and also named director of the African American Hereditary Prostate Cancer (AAHPC) Study Network at the university’s National Human Genome Center. Kittles also co-directed the molecular genetics unit of Howard University’s National Human Genome Center. He served in these positions until 2004. Beginning in 2004, he served as an associate professor in the Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology & Medical Genetics at the Tzagournis Medical Research Facility of Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.

He is currently Scientific Director of the Washington, D.C.-based African Ancestry Inc., a genetic testing service for determining individuals’ African ancestry, which he co-founded with Gina Paige in March 2003. He also serves as an associate professor in the Section of Genetic Medicine of the Department of Medicine at the University of Chicago.

He was featured in the BBC Two films Motherland: A Genetic Journey and Motherland – Moving On (released in 2003 and 2004, respectively), as well as in part 4 of the 2006 PBS series African American Lives (hosted by Henry Louis Gates). On October 7, 2007 he was featured on the American TV newsmagazine 60 Minutes. In February 2008 he appeared in part 4 of African American Lives 2.

He has published on the prostate cancer genetics of African Americans.

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Information courtesy of wikipedia.

[HBCU Presidents] Dr. Dorothy Yancy: 1st Female President of Shaw University

Leshell Hatley — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:26:28 +0000

Dr. Dorothy Cowser Yancy, a native of Alabama, has joined the Shaw University family as interim president. Dr. Yancy served as the twelfth president of Johnson C. Smith University and was the first female elected to hold that post. In keeping with this standard, Dr. Yancy is now the first woman to serve as President of the prestigious Shaw University.

Education

Dr. Yancy holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and social science from Johnson C. Smith University, a Master of Arts degree in history from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a Ph.D. in political science from Atlanta University (Georgia), with further study at the University of Singapore, Hampton University, Northeastern Illinois University (Chicago), Northwestern University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Dr. Yancy earned certificates in management development from Harvard University and she is listed as an arbitrator with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services and the American Arbitration Association. She also is a Special Magistrate with the Florida Public Employee Relations Commission.

Accomplishments at Johnson C. Smith University

During her tenure as president of Johnson C. Smith University, Dr. Yancy completed two significant capital campaigns. The first campaign, ‘Campaign for the 90’s,’ took place from 1993-1998 with a goal of $50 million. At the close of the campaign she exceeded this goal, raising $63.8 million. The second campaign, ‘Pathways to Success,’ was launched in October 2000 with a goal of raising $75 million. At the close of the campaign in June of 2007, she exceeded the goal again, raising $81.5. Under her leadership the University endowment more than tripled from $14 million to $53 million. For these achievements, she has been heralded as one of the best fundraisers nationally.

In 2000, Johnson C. Smith University became the first HBCU “Laptop” university, issuing IBM Thinkpads to all of its students. Prior to this historic feat, she led the University during a three-year period of strategic planning in technology and faculty/staff development, resulting in an integrated approach to a liberal arts higher education. This, too, was nationally recognized by her testifying before Congress in 2000 about the status of technology in higher education. As a result of her leadership, the University was ranked in 2001 by Yahoo Internet Life Magazine as one of the Top 50 most wired small colleges in the nation. In 2007 JCSU was ranked in the top ten of HBCUs by U.S. News and World Report.

Career

Dr. Yancy has earned the respect of the higher education community throughout her career. She served as a professor of history, technology and society and in the School of Management at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta) from 1972-1994. At Georgia Tech, she was the first African American to be promoted and tenured as a full professor. She also served as associate director of the School of Social Sciences. Previously she taught at several institutions including Albany State University, Hampton University, Evanston Township High School, and Barat College, where she was the director of the Afro-American Studies Program.

Dr. Yancy was the first American to lecture at the Academy of Public Administration and Social Studies of the Small Hural in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, in 1991.

Scholarship

In scholarship, as well as leadership, Dr. Yancy has excelled. She has published over 40 articles and labor arbitration cases in academic journals as “Dorothy Bolden, Organizer of Domestic Workers; She was Born Poor and She Would Not Bow Down,” Sage, “Public Sector Bargaining in the South: A Case Study of Atlanta and Memphis,” Industrial Relations Association Proceedings, “William Edward Burghardt Dubois – Atlanta Years: The Human Side – A Study Based upon Oral Sources,” The Journal of Negro History, and several articles in Black Women in America: A Historical Encyclopedia.

Service

In addition to her scholastic contributions, Dr. Yancy has contributed widely to civic and professional communities. She was the first African American to be appointed Special Master for the Florida Public Employee Relations Commission, was a member of labor delegations to the Soviet Union and Europe in 1988 and 1990, is the former president of the Association of Social and Behavioral Scientists and of the Atlanta Chapter of the Industrial Relations Research Association, and is a former member of the Executive Council of The Links, Inc. In 2001, she became the first female to be elected President of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA). Further, Dr. Yancy is a former president of the Members Presidents of UNCF (2004-2006), a former member of the board of the Council of Independent Colleges, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and the Executive Council of the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History.

She is a former member of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities Commission on Financing Higher Education, the American Council of Education Commission on Women in Higher Education, and the U.S. Air Force Historically Black Colleges and Universities/Minority Institution (HBCU/MI) Board of Advisors. She is also a former member of the North Carolina Post-Secondary Eligibility and served as the chairperson of the 2005 HBCU Congressional Forum Steering Committee. She was also a member of the Association of Governing Boards Task Force on the State of the Presidency in American Higher Education in 2006. She served on the Board of the YMCA of Greater Charlotte, the Board of Directors of Bank of America of the Carolinas, the Board of Charlotte Urban League, the Board of Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, and the Board of Opera Carolina.

She presently is an advisor to the Mint Museum of Art, member of the Board of Levine Museum of the New South, the Chamber of Commerce Board of Advisors, a member of the Corporate Board of UNCF, a member of the Executive Committee of UNCF and President of the North Carolina Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. She is also a member of The National Association of HBCU Title III Administrators, Inc. Presidents Advisory Board.

Award

As a valued member of various publics, Dr. Yancy has received numerous awards: Outstanding Teacher of the Year, Georgia Tech; Undergraduate Faculty Member of the Year, Georgia Tech Student Government; Outstanding Faculty Member by the Georgia Tech Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity; listing in Outstanding Young Women in America, Outstanding Professional in Human Service, Who’s Who in Black America, Who’s Who Among American Women, the World’s Who’s Who Among Women in Education and selected as “one of the Six Best Teachers in the U.S.” by Newsweek on Campus in 1988. Other honors include membership in ANAK (a Georgia Institute of Technology leadership organization), The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, Alpha Kappa Mu National Honor Society, Sigma Rho Sigma Honor Society, and Omicron Delta Kappa. She was inducted into the most prestigious honor society in the nation, the Delta of Georgia Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, in May 2002.

Since 1996, she has been widely recognized: Belle Ringer Image Award, Bennett College; National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame in Education; Black Issues in Higher Education, Twentieth Century Educator; Lifetime Achievement Award, North Carolina 4-H Club; W.E.B. DuBois Award, Association of Social and Behavioral Scientists; Maya Angelou Tribute to Achievement/UNCF; Torchbearer Award in Education; first woman to become the 10th Benjamin E. Mays Lecturer, Morehouse College; 2000 Person of Prominence, The Charlotte Post; and 2001 Outstanding Educator of the Year by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee. In the July 2002 issue of the national publication Savoy Magazine, she was listed as a “leader to watch.” In 2004, she received the Harold E. Delaney Exemplary Educational Leadership Award from the American Association for Higher Education.

In 2005, Dr. Yancy was recognized by the Charlotte Business Journal as one of the Top Women in Business in the region and received the Old North State Award from the State of North Carolina. In January 2007, she received the Sisters Delany Honor Society Achievement Award, North Carolina Women of Distinction, and St. Augustine’s College. Also in 2007 she received the Horizon Award from Leadership Charlotte and the William J. Stanley Award from Georgia Institute of Technology.

In 2008, she was inducted into the Women’s History Hall of Fame by the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs and the Levine Museum of the South. She also testified before the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor on “America’s Black Colleges and Universities: Models of Excellence and Challenges for the Future.”

More information can be found on Answers.com.