Dr frances kelsey biography of michael jackson

Kelsey was universally credited with sparing the US the damage inflicted by the drug thalidomide to the human nervous system by refusing to approve the drug for distribution in the US. As a result of her actions, major changes in drug regulations in the US resulted and the rest of the world.

Dr frances kelsey biography of michael jackson: Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey --

She was the second child of an Australian father and Scottish mother. She wanted to be a scientist from a very young age and graduated high school at age She then earned a Bachelor of Science degree in at McGill University in Montreal at age 20, hoping to go into laboratory work. However, she graduated at the height of the Depression and thus few jobs were available to women.

After finishing that degree, a professor urged her to study at the University of Chicago with E. She listened and eventually earned a PhD in Pharmacology, becoming the first woman to do so. Kelsey worked with Geiling on a Food and Drug Administration FDA contract to find out why 71 adults and 34 children died after taking a new anti-bacterial product, Elixir Sulfanilamide.

The lethal ingredient turned out to be diethylene glycol, or anti-freeze, which tastes sweet. This pharmaceutical disaster resulted in legislative changes to the Food and Drug Act.