1914
- Kelsey was born on 1914 in Cobble Hill, Columbia. Her dad Frank Oldham was a retired war veteran, and her mom was Katherine Stuart.
- She was born a couple of weeks before WW1, and when it started, her dad had to leave to fight in the war.
- She learned English by copying her brother.
- Fun fact: She was one of 4 children, and her parents called her Frankie.
1928 – 1931
- She went to ST Margarets School in the provisional government of Canada.
- She graduated at 15 years old.
- And from 1930-1931 she went to the University of Victoria.
1932-1934
- Frances enrolled to McGill University in 1932
- She earned a BSc. and MSc. in pharmacology.
- One of her professors encouraged her to contact EMK Geiling a professor who was starting a pharmacology department in the University of Chicago
- Geiling thought her name was masculine and hired her. She got the job in 1936.
1936-1938
- Geiling was retained by the FDA to investigate deaths caused by Elixer Sulfanilamide.
- Kelsey assisted on the project, and they were able to identify that it was caused by the solvent used.
- Later that year, she earned her Ph.D. in pharmacology.
- Working with Geiling got her interested in learning about how some medicines caused birth defects.
1942-1943
- She got hired as staff in the University of Chicago.
- Kelsey and a lot of other scientists got interested in finding a synthetic cure to malaria.
- During her work she met Fremont Ellis Kelsey, who she married in 1943.
1950-1957
- Kelsey was awarded her MD in 1950 .
- She left the University of Chicago in 1954 and went to teach at the University of South Dakota.
- At the time she had two children.
- She taught until 1957 and had to get a dual citizenship to continue work in the US.
*1957-1962*
- In 1960, Kelsey was hired by the FDA, and she became one of only 11 physicians reviewing drugs.
- One of her first assignments was to review thalidomide, the drug that would eventually make her famous.
Thalidomide
- Kelsey stopped this drug from being used in the US because of a few reported incidents of birth defects.
- She got lots of pressure from manufacturing companies, and even more from the FDA because she was generally new.
- Eventually, a correlation was made between thousands of births defects caused by this drug, and its use was instantly halted.
Positive results
- She helped people understand just how much drug testing should be necessary. She established the drug testing currently used by the FDA.
- She saved thousands of people from living with birth defects.
- She also gained acknowledgment, and multiple rewards (listed below)
Later Life
- Kelsey died in 2015, she was 101, and very known throughout the medical community.
- She continued working for the FDA until she was 90, and when she retired, they made a “Kelsey award” for employees.
- She died nearly 24 hours after Ontario’s Lieutenant-Governor visited to award her role against thalidomide.
Frances Kelsey was awarded a multitude of times for her heroic actions.
In this photo, Kelsey is
awarded the President’s
Award for Distinguished
Federal Civilian Service,
The Highest award that
can be given to a citizen.
This is a secondary elementary school named after her.A list of awards she received.
1962 -President’s Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service
1963 – Gold Key Award from University of Chicago, Medical and Biological Sciences Alumni Association
1994 – Chosen as the namesake for Frances Kelsey Secondary School which opened in 1995.
2000 – Inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame
2001 – Named a Virtual Mentor for the American Medical Association
2006 – Foremother Award from the National Center for Health Research
2010 – Recipient of the first Dr. Frances O. Kelsey Award for Excellence and Courage in Protecting Public Health given out by the FDA
2012 – Honorary doctor of science degree from Vancouver Island University
2015 – Named to the Order of Canada