MISGUIDED MAGAZINE SPRING 2020

SPRING 2020
MEDICAL PIONEERS
DANIEL HALE WILLIAMS
Daniel Hale Williams was an African American general
surgeon, who in 1893 performed the first documented,
successful pericardium surgery (open heart surgery) in the
United States, without the benefits of a blood transfusion or
modern surgical procedures. Due to the discrimination of the day,
African American citizens were still barred from being admitted
to hospitals and black doctors were refused staff positions.
So, in 1891 Dr. Williams founded a hospital with an interracial
staff. In 1895, he co-founded the National Medical Association, a
professional organization for black medical practitioners, as an
alternative to the American Medical Association, which didn’t
allow African American membership.
Source: biography.com/people/daniel-hale-williams-9532269t
CHARLES DREW
Charles Drew was an African American surgeon and medical
researcher. He researched in the field of blood transfusions.
He developed a method of processing and store blood plasma
in blood banks. He organized the first large-scale blood bank
in the U.S. He managed two of the largest blood banks, for the
United States and Great Britain, during World War II. He was
Chief Surgeon at Freedman’s Hospital and was a professor at
Howard University. He resigned after a ruling that the blood of
African-Americans would be segregated.
Source: biography.com/people/charles-drew-9279094?page=1
70 | MISGUIDED MAGAZINE