Dr. Estelle Ramey, professor of endocrinology at Georgetown University Medical Center and famous critic of medically based sexism, died Sept. 8 as a result of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. She was 89.
During her 40 years at GUMC, Ramey helped to deflate popular myths about female hormonal problems, Dr. Sue Mulroney of the GUMC physiology department said.
Denying that women were physiologically inferior to men, Ramey produced scientific evidence to counter the once common argument that female hormonal cycles prevented women from performing in important careers.
“It’s really gratifying to know that the ideas she espoused back then were right,” Mulroney said.
“It was started by her very loud voice saying, ‘this needs to be done.’”
Mulroney said that the impact Ramey had on the people around her was profound. Describing her as “a tornado,” Mulroney said that Ramey empowered everyone and insisted that simple opportunity was all anyone needed to succeed.
In 1975, she helped to found the Special Master’s Program at GUMC, which continues to offer college graduates new opportunities for education.
The program is now headed by Dr. Adam Myers, who attended Georgetown University while Ramey was on the faculty. The first of its kind in the country, the SMP helps students demonstrate their capabilities to prepare for and earn a place in medical school.
“[Ramey] was a very strong presence, she commanded respect,” Myers said in a telephone interview yesterday. “At the same time she was warm and accommodating.”
Ramey is survived by a husband, two kids and five grandchildren.
