Episode 106: Hero in a Lab Coat - Frances Oldham Kelsey

Profiles of Empowerment!

This Week - Frances Oldham Kelsey - The Hero in the Lab Coat

She spent her career protecting the lives and health of the born and the unborn. 

In the 1960's, she saved countless lives and misery by refusing to okay the distribution of thalidomide-a drug that resulted in horrible deformities in babies whose mothers took it to cope with morning sickness.

Brave and principled - champion of the innocent!

#WomenEmpowerment, #WomenSupportingWomen,#WomenOver50, #FemaleEntrepreneur, #PerimenopausalWomen

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:50

Welcome to the broadcast. As always, it's my privilege to be with you. I hope you're well. In fact, we're going to be talking about wellness. There's a lady, and maybe you've heard of her, maybe you haven't, who changed wellness, especially in the United States, and her effect went worldwide because of her magnificent and courageous work. We'd like to think that when we're faced with a moral issue, that we take a stand, that we would speak up. We'd like to think so, and hopefully we would. I'd like to think so, but sometimes we don't know until we're actually in that position. Well, there was a lady by the name of Frances Oldham Kelsey. You may remember reading about her maybe in school, but she uh did a great deal, contributed a huge amount to the health and well-being of all of us, and especially uh expectant mothers. Let's talk about her for a few minutes. She was born in 1914 and she passed in 2015. Yes, she lived to 101. So this is uh a contradiction to the good die young, because Frances was exceptional in every way. She ended up having a 45-year career with the US Food and Drug Administration, and she ended up uh in her career of reviewing many um drugs and uh suspicious, supposedly healing uh solvents, uh actually is being poisoned, and many people had died and had many problems. And there was one outstanding review that she had in her career. I'll backtrack a little bit. She became a doctor in 1935 at the ripe old age of 21, and she was working in the new pharmacology department of the University of Chicago. Uh during her second year there, um, she began to do more research on deaths that were caused by uh different drugs that were uh sold as medicines, but they actually were poison. And unfortunately, before the 1930s, very little was done in a way to protect consumers with uh drugs, over-the-counter medicines that were supposed to help you. And of course, we know, especially throughout man's history, I'd say the 1800s, but especially throughout history, people could concoct pretty much anything and put it in a container, a bottle or a skin bag, whatever they had, and pass it off as something that might help you. And if you were not careful, you could die or be uh suffer some horrible um malady because of the very thing you were looking for as relief. Well, she um let's see, I lost my place. In 1960, she was hired by the FDA in Washington. She was only one of seven full-time and four part-time physicians that were reviewing drugs. That was 1960. That's pretty bad if you think about it. Well, one of her first assignments was by pharmaceutical Richardson and Merrill, and it was for the drug thylitamine. And naturally, they wanted to get this on the market. It was for women who were pregnant and enduring uh severe uh morning sickness, and the drug manufacturer was very eager to get it approved, and this was her department, as uh a pharmacologist and working for the FDA. She they wanted her to give her stamp of approval, uh, and she did her research as she always did, and she was realizing this was not safe, and it became pretty strenuous. And this is when we wonder if we had a really great job, would we be willing to risk it? And how much pressure would we withstand if a powerful pharmaceutical wanted us to just rubber stamp their drug and get it on the market? Well, at the time, uh Canada and more than 20 countries in Europe and Africa were already using this drug, but she she refused to okay it and um just did not make the drug company happy. The good news for our hero is that um as she continued to halt the approval process, uh her superiors supported her, which is very unusual. It seems like oftentimes, especially if you're a woman, you did not get the support, and tragedy ensued. Well, it was as soon as November 1961. Remember, she started in 1960, so uh a little over a year later, uh, unfortunately, there were many deformed infants being born because they were using this thylidamide, and um there were premature deaths, and there were armless and legless children. If you've ever seen pictures, uh we all want to drop and kiss the ground or kiss a photograph of Miss Frances because she did a great deal, a huge service for our country and all the moms and babies by not okaying this drug. And of course, she was vindicated, uh, sadly, good and bad, uh, good for us, sad for people who had taken it, when all these terrible uh deformities and deaths were happening with babies. And uh fortunately that happened early on, so that she was recognized as a hero, not just being a difficult woman that she was trying to be, you know. You hear all kinds of stupid stuff, but uh fortunately her uh she was vindicated, and many people did not have to suffer through that. Uh she had a long, illustrious career. She retired from the FDA in 2005 at the age of 90. She was 90 years old. Well, hallelujah! Thank goodness. And uh the accolades awards and citations that she received uh were a laundry list. She in 1962 she received the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service. Um she's got all kinds of awards, uh, honorary doctorate degrees. Um there were many things that were named after her. There's pages and pages. So uh God bless those who speak up. Uh, fortunately, though she took a lot of heat, she stood up. She stood up for what was right. So you and I can feel very grateful that there are doctors, uh, both men and women, uh, who will do the right thing and they will pass up promotions and perks and little gifts and things because they want to do the right thing and take care of people, uh, the general public. And we know that Frances did that. So, celebrating Frances Oldham Kelsey and her contribution, and a reminder that speaking up and doing the right thing and holding your ground when you believe it's the right thing to do, and especially when you have tons of proof, is a good thing. So good for us and good for her. So, from our Hey That's Funny file, Red Skelton, a classic longtime famous guy, he said, My doctor says that I look like a million bucks. Yellow and wrinkled. Unfortunately, some of us can relate to that. So, my friend, it was good being with you. And remember that there are a lot of people who have come before you. There are a lot of people now, and no doubt there will be many magnificent men and women who champion the right thing to do and make our lives better. So, enjoy your week, and I will look forward to seeing you again. Keep building your life, the life that you want, because you deserve it. Take care.