Cutting Edge Scientist

By Ann Kinkley

Sometimes, Ann Roth Streissguth seems surprised to find herself a world authority on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). In fact, as a child growing up on a fruit orchard near Roseburg, the idea of continuing her education past high school was far from her imagination. Her parents were well-read but never had the opportunity to go to college. Daughter Ann had no big dreams of a college education or plans to change the world.

But as it turns out, she has changed the world.

After observing that first group of children born to alcoholic mothers in 1973, she began a landmark study of the effects of alcohol on the unborn that continues today. In the process, Streissguth, a 1954 home economics graduate of Oregon State College, has changed the way that people all over the world view drinking while pregnant.