“A fellow came up to me and said, ‘I want to join right now. I want to fill out the application, and I want you to give me one of those cards.’ … Nobody was really a card-carrying member yet, and this guy insisted. … So I wrote ‘Robert Ersek, MD.’ Gave him one of these punch-out cards.”
—JOHN G. WIEGENSTEIN, MD
1968–1979
AUGUST 1968
ACEP incorporated
NOVEMBER 1968
First national meeting of emergency physicians
1969
ACEP’s first headquarters opens in the offices of the Michigan State Medical Society
AUGUST 1969
First ACEP Chapter chartered (Massachusetts)
NOVEMBER 1969
First ACEP Scientific Assembly (Denver)
JULY 1970
First emergency residency program began University of Cincinnati)
AUGUST 1970
ACEP hired first Executive Director, Arthur (Art) Auer
JANUARY 1972
Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians (JACEP) launched
JUNE 1972
Emergency Medicine Foundation established
JULY 1973
Emergency Medical Services Systems Act passed
NOVEMBER 1974
Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association (EMRA) founded
President Gerald Ford proclaimed National EMS Week
1975
Society for Teachers in
Emergency Medicine formed
1976
ACEP’s headquarters moved to a building near the Lansing airport
JUNE 1976
American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) incorporated
SEPTEMBER 1979
Emergency medicine became 23rd recognized medical specialty
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