Rodin honored at hospital fundraiser

Saturday was ladies night at the Sheraton Society Hill.

An all-female fundraising group hosted its annual "Fantasy Ball," raising roughly $80,000 to benefit women with cancer. And the theme of the event was, of course, women.

Pioneering women in medicine, to be specific.

The 19th annual Fantasy Ball was held by the Auxiliary of Pennsylvania Hospital, and this year's theme was "Female Firsts."

University President Judith Rodin was the evening's guest of honor as the first female president of an Ivy League institution.

Her accomplishments also prompted the selection of the evening's theme.

After "Rodin was designated as our guest of honor... she was such an inspirational person that I wanted to try and base the theme around her," said Leslie McNeil, chairwoman of the event.

The Auxiliary is an all-female volunteer group founded in 1927 that raises funds for Pennsylvania Hospital. Half of its funds are allocated annually to different departments within the hospital that apply for the money, and half go to a "special cause" that changes every two years.

This year's cause is the purchase of a new mammography unit for the Women's Imaging Center, and the $80,000 raised Saturday night will certainly help towards that goal.

Along with Rodin, another guest of honor at Saturday's event was Jody Foster, the chairwoman of Psychiatry at the Pennsylvania Hospital and the first woman to be named a department chairperson at the hospital.

The Auxiliary also acknowledged the accomplishments of Elizabeth Blackwell, who in 1849 became the first American woman to get a medical degree, Anna Bunting, superintendent of nurses at Pennsylvania Hospital from 1879 to 1886, and Lucretia Clark, the first chair of the Auxiliary of Pennsylvania Hospital.

In addition to Rodin, other Penn officials in attendance included Ralph Muller, chief executive officer of the University Health System, and Arthur Rubenstein, dean of the Medical School.

The event featured several speakers, including Timothy Morgan, executive director of Pennsylvania Hospital, who spoke on the importance of women leaders.

Of Rodin, Morgan said, "Her leadership style and abilities are so natural... it is sometimes easy to forget she was the first [female] president of an Ivy League university."

"But we cannot forget her determination, her accomplishments," he added.

Rodin herself, who spoke following Morgan, recognized the impact that other pioneering women have had on her life.

"Let me acknowledge my debt to all the women... on whose shoulders I proudly stand," she said, specifically mentioning Blackwell.

Rodin also spoke of Pennsylvania Hospital, saying, "We are especially proud of our ties to America's first hospital."

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