Barbara Rodriguez

Interim Health and Caregiving Reporter

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Sixty-five years ago this fall, Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey made history for doing something that might seem remarkably ordinary: she served as the proverbial red tape of the federal bureaucracy. She challenged a drug’s safety claims and repeatedly refused to approve its sale in the United States — a decision that saved lives and prevented widespread harm.

Amid thousands of layoffs in the federal government and an ongoing shutdown, the contributions of civil servants like Kelsey are a reminder of the power of one person.

Kelsey was a new medical officer at the Food and Drug Administration in September 1960 when she received an application to market a sedative drug for pregnant

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