Doctor raises money for scholarships for Black men
John S. Adams Diversity & Inclusion — Individual
› What do you do for relaxation:
Golf and gardening. If I’m not hacking up the course, golf allows me to free my mind from my daily routine. And with gardening, I’m out there with nature and it’s just me. It allows me to get in a place by myself and not think about anything other than what’s right in front of me, and that’s very peaceful.
› What led you to become a medical professional:
I wanted to be an educator. My parents are educators, and I figured out in high school that educators do great work but aren’t necessarily compensated as they should be. I was at a community health fair, and one of my parents’ friends, an OB-GYN and pediatrician, was there. I discovered that they were doing education, and realized medicine would allow me to do some educating, but would also provide compensation and allow me to take care of my family.
› If you could choose another profession, what would it be and why:
While an undergrad at Xavier University of Louisiana, I studied pre-med chemistry, but minored in English. If medical school hadn’t worked out, I could still have become a college professor, if I had chosen to.
Dr. John S. Adams says he loves delivering babies.
“There’s no better feeling in the world,” says the obstetrician and gynecologist who has practiced for 28 years in Chattanooga.
Adams also is heavily involved in raising money for college scholarships for Black men from the Gamma Pi Boule Foundation of the Sigma Pi Phi fraternity. He says about 50 scholarships have been awarded over the past 10 years, with four to five of the winners even going onto medical school and two having graduated. Adams is a 2023 Champion of Health Care in diversity and inclusion.
The fraternity, first established in 1904, includes successful Black men such as physicians, lawyers, judges, educators and athletes. Adams says he was asked to join in 2008, with the foundation established in 2013, of which he became president in 2020.
The 62-year-old physician leads the foundation’s annual fundraising campaign, with the bulk of the money going to scholarships to Black male high school students in Hamilton County who’ve been accepted into four-year universities.
He says the scholarships are aimed at Black men because they are “the ones struggling the most, the ones who are lost, committing crimes, winding up hurt or in jail. These are the guys who need the most help, and that’s why we’ve chosen them.”
Applications are sent out to several public and private schools annually, Adams says. Faculty members may offer letters of support but the foundation also looks at community service, grades, test scores and a personal statement. About 20 to 25 applications come in annually, and this year the foundation partnered with the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga.
“A lot of these guys have overcome hardships in their journeys,” the physician says. “We factor those hardships into our decision as well.”