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Salemtowne Resident Dr. Patricia L. Adams, retired professor of internal medicine, nephrology, and transplantation at Wake Forest School of Medicine, received an Emeritus Academy Award from the school’s emeriti faculty. “Dr. Adams helped build and strengthen our kidney transplant program and served as a dedicated leader for our school and our Medical Center,” said Dr. Lynn Anthony, senior associate dean for faculty affairs, in presenting the award.

Patty’s eyes light up when she discusses her amazing medical career. After graduating from Wake, she completed an internship and residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in nephrology at the University of Alabama’s School of Medicine. While she was there, the University of Richmond Medical School had an immunosuppression specialist and wanted a nephrologist from the University of Alabama to help with a kidney-sharing project. Through what Patty describes as a “propitious” set of circumstances, she got in on the ground floor of the first kidney-sharing organization in the U.S., the Southeastern Organ Procurement Foundation (SEOPF). SEOPF became the model for the whole country. “This was a very exciting time in medicine,” she says. “Kidney transplants made such a critical difference for patients.” Patty returned to Wake Forest in 1974 to join the medical faculty. “This award is very meaningful to me,” she says. “It is nice to know your colleagues considered you a good professor.”