Dr. Adams is a trailblazer in the field of public health. She was the first African-American woman accepted to the General Preventive Medicine Program at Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health in Maternal and Child Health. While serving as the first African-American female Physician Director at the U.S. Coast Guard Shipyard Health Clinic and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) Medical Clinic, Dr. Adams established the first Occupational Health and Biological Monitoring Program in their histories. She also established the first Minority Health Program at the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. Dr. Adams’ advocacy and innovation has been responsible for numerous other research and service programs that address minority health issues.

Dr. Adams has authored many scholarly and technical works. In 1995 she edited, Health Issues for Women of Color: A Cultural Diversity Perspective, now in its second printing.

Dr. Adams has been the recipient of a variety of awards and honors; a recent sample is inclusion in the 5000 Personalities of the World (1996), Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare (1996), National Black Health Leadership Directory as one of the top 500 health care leaders in the country, induction into the Johns Hopkins Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health-Alpha Chapter for excellence in the field of Public Health (1994). In September 1993, she was invited to the White House to participate in President Clinton’s Health Care Reform Initiative.

In 1993, Dr. Adams sponsored the First National Conference on Cultural Diversity and Women’s Health. It was followed in 1996 by Bridging the Gap: The First International Conference on Cultural Diversity and Women’s Health. The success of this initiative is underscored by the fact that conferences are scheduled through 1999 in Egypt and the United States.

For more than 25 years Dr. Adams has been married to William M. Adams, a computer scientist/software engineer. They have three children.