The U.K. Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) has posted a tribute to Prof. Judith Elizabeth Adams, the leading musculoskeletal radiologist who passed away on 30 September 2017 after discovering her own malignancy on an abdominal CT scan.
Prof. Judith Adams receives an award from past RCR President Dr. Giles Maskell in 2016. Image courtesy of the RCR.Adams' career in radiology started in 1972. She achieved a Fellowship of the RCR in 1975 and became a senior lecturer at the University of Manchester by 1979 and then professor in 1993, heading the academic department and radiology training scheme.
She was awarded a gold medal in 2007 by the International Skeletal Society and a gold medal by the RCR in 2016. She was a renowned expert and clinical researcher in osteoporosis, fracture recognition and the measurement of bone mineral density, and she spoke on these topics at several ECR meetings.
According to Dr. R.W. Whitehouse, a consultant MSK radiologist at Manchester, Adams worked tirelessly to emphasize the importance of identifying and reporting the presence of osteoporotic vertebral fractures and of commenting on bone density when possible to do so. She was the first chair of the European Society of Skeletal Radiologists (ESSR) osteoporosis committee, with a mission to raise awareness and expertise in osteoporosis amongst radiologists in Europe, collaborating with the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) Vertebral Fracture Initiative in 2002. This work produced a teaching and educational CD which was widely distributed at radiology and osteoporosis meetings around the world, updated in 2010.
Aside from these impressive academic achievements, Adams was outgoing, delighting in recognizing friends old and new at meetings around the world, he noted in an ESSR obituary.
Born on 16 May 1945, Adams is survived by two sons. Her husband Peter, also a medical doctor and professor, died eight days after her death. To read the tribute, click here.
