PHYSICIAN

Frances Oldham Kelsey

1914 - 2015

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Icon of person Frances Oldham Kelsey

Frances Kathleen Oldham Kelsey (née Oldham; July 24, 1914 – August 7, 2015) was a Canadian-American pharmacologist and physician. As a reviewer for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), she refused to authorize thalidomide for market because she had concerns about the lack of evidence regarding the drug's safety. Her concerns proved to be justified when it was shown that thalidomide caused serious birth defects. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Frances Oldham Kelsey has received more than 1,099,853 page views. Her biography is available in 32 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 30 in 2019). Frances Oldham Kelsey is the 452nd most popular physician (down from 341st in 2019), the 225th most popular biography from Canada (down from 152nd in 2019) and the 7th most popular Canadian Physician.

Memorability Metrics

  • 1.1M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 51.45

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 32

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 3.03

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.16

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among PHYSICIANS

Among physicians, Frances Oldham Kelsey ranks 452 out of 726. Before her are William Hunter, Giovanni Battista Grassi, Eva Klein, Constantin von Economo, Harry Seeley, and Crawford Long. After her are Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland, Giovanni Maria Lancisi, Ludwik Rajchman, Anastasia Golovina, Ernst von Bergmann, and Robert Liston.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1914, Frances Oldham Kelsey ranks 201. Before her are Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Orhan Veli Kanık, Edmund Muskie, Toulo de Graffenried, Igor M. Diakonoff, and Akira Ifukube. After her are Shaken Aimanov, Bertus Aafjes, Josep Escolà, Norman Holter, Haroun Tazieff, and Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury. Among people deceased in 2015, Frances Oldham Kelsey ranks 195. Before her are Jon Vickers, Gerald Götting, Ahmed Chalabi, Patachou, Wan Li, and Slavko Avsenik. After her are Clifford Edmund Bosworth, Beau Biden, Daevid Allen, Charb, Ellsworth Kelly, and Robert Z'Dar.

Others Born in 1914

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Others Deceased in 2015

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In Canada

Among people born in Canada, Frances Oldham Kelsey ranks 225 out of 1,622. Before her are Ernest Burgess (1886), Marc Singer (1948), Joseph-Armand Bombardier (1907), Bobby Hull (1939), David Card (1956), and Josephine Crowell (1859). After her are Robert D. Hare (1934), Debbi Wilkes (1946), August Schellenberg (1936), John Murray (1841), William H. McNeill (1917), and Mazo de la Roche (1879).

Others born in Canada

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Among PHYSICIANS In Canada

Among physicians born in Canada, Frances Oldham Kelsey ranks 7. Before her are Frederick Banting (1891), Oswald Avery (1877), Charles Brenton Huggins (1901), David H. Hubel (1926), Norman Bethune (1890), and William Osler (1849). After her are Édouard Gagnon (1918), Lucille Teasdale-Corti (1929), Maude Abbott (1868), James Heilman (1979), and Alaa Murabit (1989).

Canadian born Physicians

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