Arts and Humanities Colloquium Series:"Frances Oldham Kelsey, Thalidomide, and the Quest for Good Science in the Nuclear Age."

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Friday, February 17th, 2017
10:00 AM to 11:30 PM

Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey, from Cobble Hill on Vancouver Island, was granted an Honorary Doctorate from Vancouver Island University in 2012. In an obituary in The Globe and Mail, Kelsey, who died at age 101 on 7 August 1915, was described as "the most brilliant medical officer that Canada never had." In the early 1960s she was one of the most famous women in North America, after her key role in preventing a great American tragedy was made public in 1962.

Thalidomide was a new drug, a "miracle" medication billed as safe for pregnant women suffering from insomnia and morning sickness. The drug was developed in the 1950s by a German pharmaceutical company and was widely used in Europe. Within the first month of joining the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1960, Kelsey's first file was a request for approval of thalidomide for use in the United States.

During the initial application process, the pharmaceutical company put strong pressure on the FDA to approve the use of thalidomide in the U.S., particularly since the leading opponent, Dr. Kelsey, was a junior researcher who was new to her position. With misgivings over the drug’s safety, Kelsey postponed approval long enough for reports of horrific birth defects to emerge. She stood firm in her opposition and so helped avert extension of the tragedy that afflicted thousands in other countries. Kelsey followed a career path both pioneering and domestic.

She studied science at Victoria College (B.C) and McGill, then pharmacology at the University of Chicago. Kelsey’s postwar years mirrored those of many other North American women, as she juggled her medical career with rearing two daughters and functioning as an academic wife. Kelsey and the events of the early 1960s are the subject of this presentation by Dr. Cheryl Warsh, a member of the VIU History Department. The illustrated talk is entitled Frances Oldham Kelsey, Thalidomide, and the Quest for Good Science in the Nuclear Age. Warsh is writing the biography of Dr. Kelsey, but for this talk the focus will be on the thousands of letters sent to Kelsey in the aftermath of her famous decision. "The letter writers were from all walks of life," says Warsh. "Most American states were represented and the writers displayed many common characteristics, including a deep-seated distrust of big business; a lack of confidence in the American government to adequately protect their citizens; and a fervent, at times religiously constructed appreciation of the Mother/Scientist/Everywoman, Kelsey, who had protected America’s babies."

These letters, used in conjunction with documents in the vast Kelsey Papers at the Library of Congress and interviews with Dr. Kelsey, offer a unique window into an important historical time. And, says Warsh, "the response to the Thalidomide tragedy, and Dr. Kelsey herself, must be seen within the context of Cold War anxieties, particularly the fear of nuclear fallout, radiation poisoning, and individual helplessness." Warsh is a prominent Canadian historian. She has published extensively on asylums, addictions, children's health, gender and health, and consumerism.

Her books include Prescribed Norms: Women and Health in Canada and the United States since 1800 (2010), Gender, Health and Popular Culture: Historical Perspectives (2011), Drink in Canada: Historical Essays (1993), and Moments of Unreason: The Practice of Canadian Psychiatry and the Homewood Retreat, 1883-1923 (1989). She is currently the Executive Director of the Western Association of Women Historians. The illustrated talk is open to all, and students are especially welcome. There will be refreshments. https://ah.viu.ca/colloquium-series