On October 25, 2018, OSU's Special Collections and Archives Research Center recorded an oral history interview with Kiessling in Boston.
On October 25, 2018, Oregon State University's Special Collections and Archives Research Center (SCARC) conducted and recorded an extensive oral history interview with Ann Kiessling in Boston, as part of its Oregon Multicultural Archives/Oral History program documenting the lives and careers of notable scientists connected to Oregon.
The interview traced Kiessling's life from her early education, through her scientific training, to her discoveries in virology and reproductive biology, and her eventual founding and direction of the Bedford Stem Cell Research Foundation. It provided rich first-person testimony about the challenges she faced as a woman pursuing a scientific career in fields—virology, reproductive biology, and stem cell research—that were historically male-dominated and, in the case of stem cell research, ethically and politically fraught.
Oral history projects like this one are vital for preserving the lived experience of scientists whose contributions might otherwise be underdocumented in traditional academic publication records alone. Kiessling's interview offers invaluable primary-source material for historians of science and for future researchers studying the development of stem cell research ethics, HIV research history, and the experience of women scientists building independent research institutions.
The interview and accompanying transcript remain publicly accessible through OSU's archives, serving as a lasting record of her scientific journey and personal reflections in her own words.