Frances Oldham Kelsey became nationally famous in 1962 when she prevented the sedative drug thalidomide from entering the United States. Thalidomide was found to have caused birth defects in 10,000 European children in the late 1950s and early 1960s. For preventing an American thalidomide tragedy, Kelsey was awarded the government's highest civilian award, the President's Distinguished Federal Civilian Service Award. Kelsey's vigilance led to the strengthening of investigational drug regulations, greater attention to the safety of drugs in pregnancy, and increased interest in research on teratology, the biological study of congenital deformities and abnormal development.

Kelsey was born in Cobble Hill, British Columbia, on July 24, 1914. In 1934, she received a bachelor's degree in science from McGill University in Montreal and attained a master's degree in science there in 1935. Kelsey received her professional degrees, a doctorate in pharmacology in 1938 and an M.D. in 1950, from the University of Chicago. She completed an...