A physiologist, Ramey specialized in endocrinology, the study of hormones and the glandular systems that produce them.
In 1970, she read of the goings on at the Democratic Party’s Committee on National Priorities, which was discussing women’s rights. Committee member Edgar F. Berman, a retired surgeon, didn’t think much of women’s rights. “Suppose we had a president in the White House,” Dr. Berman pondered for the record — “a menopausal woman president who had to make the decision” about what to do during the Cuban Missile Crisis, he said, trying to paint a picture of horror to be avoided at all costs.
Dr. Ramey, the founder of the Association for Women in Science and a past member of the President’s Advisory Committee for Women, was outraged. In an Op Ed piece published in the Washington Star, she pointed out that the president during the Missile Crisis — John F. Kennedy — suffered from Addison’s disease, an endocrine disorder that caused a severe hormone imbalance. In fact, her research repeatedly showed men have a hormonal disadvantage, suffering more stress, more aggression, shorter life spans, and more heart attacks and strokes. The resulting uproar forced Dr. Berman to resign from the committee. Ramey died September 8 from complications of Alzheimer’s disease. She was 89.