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ACEP Now: Vol 37 – No 04 – April 2018

Pamela Bensen, MD, MS, FACEP receiving the Council Meritorious Service Award from ACEP
cofounder John A. Rupke, MD.

In 1973, the board had appointed Ellen Taliaferro, MD, FACEP, to serve out the board term of Stanley Gold, MD, when he resigned for health reasons. At age five, ACEP had its first woman board member. We never even thought about a glass ceiling—obviously there was not one.

However, it didn’t last. When Ellen ran for the seat she already occupied at the will of the board, the Council did not elect her. The Board had accepted women in leadership, but the Council had not.

As predicted, I lost that first election, the second, and the third. My years as a candidate were separated by years when three other women, Elizabeth Fields, MD, Dr. Taliaferro, and Vera Morkovin, MD, were nominated. They, too, lost their elections.

President after president put me on committees. As my experience increased, I was asked to chair committees. Year after year, I sat on the Council. Every two or three years the nominating committee would ask me to run for the board. Ever the optimist, I kept saying yes, and kept losing.

The year I ran and lost for the fourth time, I was greeted at the post-Council reception by a fellow Councillor. He commiserated that I was the most qualified candidate, “But, you know us southern gentlemen, we jus’ couldn’t vote for a woman.” I was saved from assault and battery charges because my right arm, linked in my husband’s, was suddenly immobilized by his.

The nominating committee did not skip a beat. The very next year, they asked me to run again. I was not, as I assured them, a glutton for punishment; I refused. I relented only after three members of the committee called to assure me I was not being asked to be the token female, destined to be led to rejection once again. The committee had discussed the gender situation and my qualifications and was sure I would be elected.

My fifth campaign was different. I decided to confront the gender issue head on. I wanted to make sure the Council saw their glass ceiling. At the meet-the-candidates forum, which had been co-opted from the small chapters event I had started, we were asked what we brought to the board that no one else had. I responded, “I bring a broad perspective,” listed my ACEP committee history, detailed the projects I had worked on for the College, and finished my answer with “and I have more estrogen than anyone else running.” My serious humor did get a good laugh.