Elinor Kamath papers

Elinor Ruth Kahn Kamath (1915-1992), A.B., 1935, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California; A.M., 1936, University of California, Berkeley, was an international medical journalist and later a researcher in the Stanford University Department of Community and Preventive Medicine. Her research focused on the events commonly referred to as the thalidomide disaster or thalidomide crisis, in which pregnant women who took thalidomide to treat morning sickness gave birth to babies with congenital conditions, such as absence or malformation of limbs.

Elinor Kahn Kamath was born Elinor Ruth Kahn on April 18, 1915 in Oakland, California. She earned her A.B. magna cum laude in political science and history at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California in 1935. In 1936, she earned her A.M. in Political Science: Public Administration from the University of California, Berkeley. From 1936 to 1950, Kamath held a variety of research and statistical positions, including at Stanford University Department of History and School of Education; the City and County of San Francisco Civil Service Commission, California; the Pacific Coast Labor Bureau in San Francisco, California; the American Communications Association in Washington, D.C.; the CIO Maritime Committee, also in D.C.; the Hotel Trades Council, New York, New York; the International Typographical Union of Stamford, Connecticut; the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union; and the Independent Progressive Party of California. After serving as a Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Prague, Czechoslovakia for the National Maritime Union from 1951 to 1959, Kamath moved to Europe, where she lived from November 1959 to June 1974. From 1959 to 1963 she worked part time for the World Wide Medical News Service/Medical Tribune in Bonn, Germany, covering health in Germany as well as medical congresses, and in November 1961, she was the first reporter to write about thalidomide in the United States. She spent three years doing freelance writing from her base in Paris, France, before she was contracted by the Department of Public Information of the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland (1967-1968). From 1969 to 1974, Kamath was a Liaison/Administrative Officer in Programme Co-ordination at Grade P-4 in the Division of Co-ordination of the World Health Organization, also in Geneva, during which time she worked closely with other United Nations organizations. When she returned to the United States in 1974, she became a writer and editor for Ken Melmon, the chairman of the Department of Medicine at Stanford University. She also served as a Research Associate in the Department of Family, Community, and Preventive Medicine at Stanford.

Kamath devoted many years of research to the thalidomide disaster. She researched the involvement of medical professionals and pharmaceutical officials and regulators; as well as the lives of thalidomide victims, who later came to refer to themselves as "thalidomiders." The thalidomide disaster was the result of a minimally-tested drug given to pregnant women in several countries. The drug led to many incidences of congenital conditions in their children, particularly shortened or absent arms or legs. Kamath studied court cases, newspaper clippings, and medical reports, and corresponded with pharmaceutical company representatives, medical researchers, and others. She wrote a manuscript on the thalidomide crisis titled Echo of Silence: The Causes and Consequences of the Thalidomide Disaster, which was never published. She also translated news articles and a book on health from French to English.

She married M. V. Kamath (1921-2014) of India, and they divorced in 1980. She died May 18, 1992 in Contra Costa, California.