The latter, we are told by those who knew him, was a gentleman by nature and a Christian from convictions produced by a simple and unaffected study of the Word of God.

"[3] Drake studied under William Goforth in Cincinnati from 1800 to 1805, and received the first medical diploma west of the Allegheny Mountains.

[6] Scholar Gert H. Brieger has called him "a heroic figure in American medicine" whose fame is due to his writings, where he also tried to improve medical education[7] and scientific research.

[9][10] The library of the AAS holds original copies of around thirty texts written by Drake.

He was a founding member of the Commercial Hospital and Lunatic Asylum in Ohio, and a fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.

A religious man, he was a founding Member of Christ Church in Cincinnati, and he advocated the combination of Christian feelings and literature.