In the fall of 1960.

In the fall of 1960, Frances Oldham Kelsey was one of the Food and Drug Administration’s newest recruits. Before the year was out, she would begin a fight that would save thousands of lives, though no one knew it at the time. Although she was new to the FDA, Kelsey was no novice as a scientist. After graduating from high school at age 15, she enrolled at McGill University in Montreal and earned both undergraduate and master’s degrees in pharmacology. From there, she applied for a research post at the University of Chicago’s pharmacology department.