Former USD Professor Who Played Prominent Role at FDA Dies at 101
Kelsey died Aug. 7 of natural causes at her daughter’s home in London, Ontario, Canada, said one of her two daughters, Christine Kelsey.
Dr. Kelsey, featured in the Fall-Winter 2014 edition of South Dakota MD, operated a private medical practice in Vermillion and taught pharmacology at USD in the 1950s. Before coming to South Dakota, she received her medical degree and taught at the University of Chicago, where she met her husband, Dr. Fremont Ellis Kelsey. The FDA recruited her in 1960 to serve in Washington as a medical officer and help the newly formed government agency protect public health and safety.
“When people are writing about her, they often jump from Chicago to Washington, but in fact her South Dakota years were very important,” Christine Kelsey said, referring to pages 33-43 of her mother’s autobiography posted on the FDA website.
Just one month into the position at FDA, Kelsey was assigned to review the application for a drug known as thalidomide. Expectant mothers in Canada, Africa and Europe had been using the sedative and painkiller to ease “morning sickness” symptoms and other discomforts. Its manufacturer sought to have it approved for use in the United States, but Kelsey suspected it might harm a fetus during pregnancy and refused to approve it for sale. That prompted a high-profile fight between the pharmaceutical company and the FDA. Kelsey’s suspicions were eventually confirmed when researchers discovered birth defects among children whose mothers had used it.
Congress responded by passing landmark legislation in 1962 to strengthen drug laws and public protections, and President John F. Kennedy awarded Kelsey the President’s Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service. The FDA now honors one of its employees every year with the Dr. Frances O. Kelsey Drug Safety Excellence Award.
USD also has a scholarship fund in honor of the Kelseys that rewards second-year medical students who have demonstrated an excellence in pharmacology.
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