The Charles R. Drew Graduate Fellowships was launched in June 2021 in honour of one of McGill University’s most accomplished alumni: Charles R. Drew, MDCM’33, (1904–1950) an American surgeon and scientist who earned the title “Father of Blood Banking” for his trailblazing work on the long-term preservation of blood plasma. The fellowships aim to support Black students and increase their representation among McGill graduate students. The fellowships further seek to promote at McGill the values that Dr. Drew espoused and reflected throughout his lifetime: academic excellence, perseverance in the face of adversity, leadership, and a commitment to justice. The initiative is part of the university’s Action Plan to Address Anti-Black Racism, and is given with preference to graduates of Howard University or other HBCU institution.
For more information, contact graduatefunding.gps [at] mcgill.ca.
2023-24 Scholar
Odufa Emike Kadiri, Information Studies
Odufa Kadiri, a recent graduate is from Nigeria. She is currently pursuing a Master of Information Studies degree at McGill University. This comes after her BA in Political Science and Psychology from Howard University, where she graduated earning the highest honorary distinction, Summa Cum Laude. Through her undergraduate education, she has gained an understanding of the framework of human thought and behaviour. This knowledge is the basis of her research, which explores the junction where human processes, information, and networks intersect for elevated user experiences in a time full of radical and transformative possibilities for computer applications and systems. Her specialization in user experience will centre on a command of working mechanisms pertaining to perceptual, cognitive, and social psychological processes in humans. She is thrilled at the prospects the Charles R. Drew Fellowship offers her to extensively research and predict the impacts of human-computer interaction to enhance usability and accessibility.
2022-23 Scholar
Shania Johnson, Art History and Communication Studies
Shania Johnson is a first year MA student in Art History at McGill University. She received her BA at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin where she examined the visual lineage of racial thought from Western Europe in the Middle Ages to modern history. At McGill, Shania is primarily focused on similar questions concerning the Byzantine Period pre-13th century. Her work will consist of interdisciplinary examples racial othering, such as primary texts and visual art, and explain how an understanding of this complex history can change how we understand contemporary discourses surrounding race and representations. The Charles R. Drew Graduate Fellowship has made it possible for Shania to undertake this level of research in an area that is greatly understudied, and she is honored and grateful for this opportunity.
2021-22 Scholar
Asia Blackman, Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health
Image by Asia Blackman and Owen Egan/Joni Dufour.
Asia Blackman is a recent Howard University graduate who began graduate studies in the department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health in Fall 2021.
This work is licensed under a