Physician’s 6.5-Ounce Curriculum Vitae : Untruths, Half-Truths in Padded Resume

Dr. Theresa Crenshaw’s curriculum vitae weighs in at 6.5 ounces.

It’s the thickness of a stenographer’s pad--nearly 50 pages listing everything from the presidency of the American Assn. of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists to every course Crenshaw has taken in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

It includes the details of her medical training and every course and symposium she has ever taught. It also lists 213 lecture engagements and 179 “media engagements,” including every stop on her 1983 book tour.

And it makes a handful of claims that appear to be half-true or not true at all.

An examination of the resume of the 45-year-old physician and interviews with officials of some of the organizations listed suggest that Crenshaw misstated credentials and overstated accomplishments.

Crenshaw declined to be interviewed or to address the discrepancies on the record.

- Under the heading “Clinical Appointments,” the resume states that Crenshaw worked in the Department of Reproductive Medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine as an “assistant professor”--a position on the full-time faculty that is paid and on the tenure track.

In fact, Crenshaw served until 1984 as an “assistant clinical professor,” said Leslie Franz, a spokeswoman for UCSD. That is an unpaid position on the clinical faculty, a group of as many as 1,000 local physicians who occasionally assist in training medical students.

- Under the heading “Committees,” Crenshaw lists the Committee on Education with the American Foundation for AIDS Research, a New York City-based group involved in increasing public understanding of AIDS and raising support for research.

Rick Weidner, AMFAR’s director of communications, said AMFAR has no committee on education. He said the director may have mentioned to Crenshaw that one might eventually be formed, but “the committee has not been formed, therefore she couldn’t be on it.”

- The resume also lists membership in the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex, a professional society based in Philadelphia. The society’s office, however, said Crenshaw is not listed as a member and has never been one.

- An official of the San Diego County Medical Society said the society is still processing Crenshaw’s November, 1986, application for membership and will not grant it until she returns to full-time practice. However, Crenshaw lists herself as a member.

- Crenshaw states in the resume that she has been listed in Marquis’ Who’s Who in American Women from “1976 to the present” and Who’s Who in the West, “1977 to the present.” Jean Donnelly, a librarian with the Illinois-based firm, said Crenshaw was listed in two consecutive volumes of Who’s Who in American Women--1977-8 and 1979-80--and in three editions of Who’s Who in the West covering 1980-4.

- Under the heading “Consulting,” Crenshaw included the San Diego Board of Education “AIDS education and information.” Ed Fletcher, director of health services for the district, said Crenshaw was one of several participants in an AIDS workshop for school administrators in 1985. “She really had no official capacity with us,” he said. “ . . . That was the extent of her offerings to us.”

- Also listed under the “Consulting” heading is the San Francisco-based clothing firm, Esprit. Evan Orensten, an Esprit De Corp spokesman in the public image department, said Crenshaw worked with the firm on a two-day AIDS awareness seminar for employees.

“In a sense, we did consult with her,” Orensten said. “It’s kind of half yes, half no. It wouldn’t be wrong to say she was a consultant. On the other hand, we didn’t pay her” and she is not on the company’s staff.