Up one levelDear Colleagues –
[Note: Funeral service information at the end]
Many of us knew Ada Adimora (Adaora Alise Adimora, EPID MPH 1993), and those who were most fortunate had opportunities to interact with, work with, and learn from her.
I met Ada in August 1988 when she enrolled in EPID168 (now EPID710) through the Evening College. She was then working full time for the NC state health department (I can't recall its official name then) and was just two months into her marriage to Paul Godley (EPID PhD 1993), an EPID doctoral student who that summer worked with me on an NCI grant proposal to create the Minority Cancer Control Research Program (MCCRP, https://sph.unc.edu/sph-news/remembering-dr-paul-godley-a-major-force-in-medicine-epidemiology-and-health-equity/).
The proposal had four projects, one of which would fund Paul's dissertation research -- a case-control study of the relation of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acid consumption, as measured by the composition of adipose tissue and erythrocyte membrane fatty acids, to risk of prostate cancer. Paul drafted the significance section for the full proposal and wrote up the section describing his proposed study. He then left for NYC to marry Ada and came back with her to Chapel Hill. The MCCRP proposal was funded, so I would interact with Paul regularly in our weekly MCCRP meetings and also about his dissertation, on which I was a committee member.After several years working for the state, Ada became a faculty member in the UNC SOM Division of Infectious Diseases. Then in 1995, she asked if I would work with her on a grant proposal for an RFA targeting new minority investigators. I found the following email that Ada sent to me on 1/31/1995. The beginning makes me smile through my tears:
Hi, Vic -
Thank you for sending me this RFA. Actually, this note is not a reply to your message. I'm really just using it to send you specific aims, since I'm afraid I'll bungle your address. I'm pretty inept at email, and I'm afraid you'll never get this message. Well, here goes. . .
Well, we know that she eventually became proficient at email!
We worked together on the proposal, culminating in an all-nighter to complete it. When the review of the proposal came back in June 1995, the score was 164, percentile 27.2. She said she would try to get a draft of the pink sheet so she could revise and resubmit. Fortunately she didn't, because at the beginning of November we received a notice of a five-year award for what became the "Rural Health Project".
That funding launched 2+ decades of collaboration for me with a rising star to whom I had been so fortunate to hitch my wagon. Most of my subsequent publications and grant proposals were collaborative projects in which Ada was the first or senior author and PI. She excelled at making decisions and managing, neither of which was my strong suit, so the collaboration worked very well for me.
We met weekly during many years, obtained consultations and advice from each other in between. We also served on several doctoral committees together, including for my advisees. She and Paul included me in their celebrations and parties, and she even gave me (and my mother) personal medical advice and assistance on several occasions.
Ada was also incredibly gracious and eloquent (I'll append "exaggerated", since she can't contradict me now) in her appreciation for anything I did or sent to her, as illustrated in the following email exchange after her appointment as Distinguished Professor.
Mar 20, 2018, 11:51 AM
Schoenbach, Victor J. <vjs@unc.edu>
Congratulations, Ada!!!
What terrific news.
I was so happy to see that you are now officially recognized as a Distinguished Professor, since I’ve known that for years 😊
Enjoy,
Vic
She replied:
Mar 22, 2018, 10:19 PM
Adimora, Adaora A <adimora@med.unc.edu>
Re: Congratulations, Ada!!!
Thank you so much! I’ve been so overwhelmed by being on the inpatient service and trying to write a grant that I delayed answering your message because I wanted to take the time to find the right words for my response. It's clear that I'm not going to have time to say anything eloquent any time soon, so here goes…
When I say "thank you" I really mean thank you — not just for your congratulations (though I appreciate them!) — but thank you for all you've done for me over the years. I can honestly say that I never could have made it without you. I’ll never forget the nights you stayed up with me in Burnett Womack writing the RHP grant, the hours and hours and hours you spent helping me with all aspects of that project after it was funded (and others!), and the time you spent and expertise you lent going over drafts of so many papers and grants. I can't imagine being as great a mentor to anyone as you have been to me.
It's been a privilege, an honor, and a blessing to work with you all these years. As I said: I never would have made it without you.
(Another example is in our interaction at my retirement party – see https://go.unc.edu/AdaAdimora)
"I will let history decide what difference I made to her career, but I don't need history to tell me that She made a huge difference in My career, thanks to our collaborative research and publications – and also to the praise that I gather she showered on me in letters to several of my department chairs (who wondered why I was not being a PI on grants or publishing first-authored papers). Her email as I was completing my phased retirement in June 2018 said: "What will I do without you???????? When is your last day, and will you still be around for consultation????"As you know, Paul died suddenly in 2019, a huge loss for Ada, Alegro, and Bria – and for so many others. Sadly, I could not attend Paul's funeral because I was in Atlanta speaking at Bill Jenkins' memorial service. Ada and I kept in touch, and she invited me to review and then co-author an article that she wrote with her daughter Bria. I saw and video recorded Ada at the inaugural Paul A. Godley Health Equity Symposium on March 5, 2020 – just before the University closed down due to Covid-19.
With the pandemic I did not get to see Ada much at all, but I did visit her at home in May 2022 and exchanged a few emails that year and in March 2023. When I wrote in early July, though, I received a reply but also an autoresponse saying that she was out on sick leave. When I asked about that, she replied a few weeks later, "I'm sorry I took so long to get back to you. Yes, I was pretty sick but I'm a lot better now thank God! Not yet back at work though." She did not elaborate, and I had the feeling that I shouldn't ask for more information. My email to her a couple of weeks later did not receive a reply, though.
With my brother-in-law's final illness and our HVAC failure, fall became pretty chaotic so I didn't get to call or visit her to find out how she was doing. On the last day of 2023, Catalina Ramirez called and told me that Ada has been battling cancer for most of the year and had gone into hospice at a facility in Pittsboro. The following morning came the announcement:
January 1, 2024 – 10:15 AM
Dear friends and colleagues,
It is with great sadness that we report that after a long illness, Dr. Ada Adimora, Sarah Graham Kenan Distinguished Professor of Medicine, and Epidemiology has passed.
Ada worked at UNC as a national and international leader for more than three decades. She was committed to improving the care of underserved populations and she was a tireless and fearless advocate for women living with HIV and at risk for HIV.
Ada was loved and admired by all those she touched, and her loss leaves a gap that cannot be filled.
We will miss Ada and her creativity, warmth, passion, and courage.
We will update you about local arrangements, and we will celebrate Ada and her contributions more broadly in the spring.
With heavy hearts,
Mike and Joe
Myron S. Cohen, MD
Yeargan-Bate Eminent Professor
Director, Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases
Joseph J. Eron, MD
Herman and Louise Smith Distinguished Professor of Medicine
Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases
Tuesday evening, Mike Cohen sent the following information about the funeral arrangements:
Below is the information about Dr. Adimora's funeral arrangement. This is a VERY large Church so all are welcome, and it would be great if information were shared across faculty. There may lead to some redundancy but then no one will feel uninformed. Ada worked at UNC her entire career and has many friends and collaborators.
THX
Mike
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
The funeral service for Dr. Ada Adimora will be held on Monday, January 8 at 12 pm at World Overcomers Christian Church (main sanctuary):
2933 S. Miami Blvd
Durham, NC 27703
In lieu of flowers the family has asked that you consider donations in Ada's honor to the Southern Coalition for Social Justice (https://southerncoalition.org/donate/).
A larger celebration of Ada's life will be planned for Spring 2024.
-----------------------------------Ada's legacy is huge, and includes her and Paul's wonderful son Alegro and daughter Bria. I am so grateful to Ada - and to Paul.
I am grateful to the many of you who have sent me condolences. In a sense, though, I don't feel that I deserve them. I am so saddened by Ada's passing. But she gave me so much and will always be a part of my life. I had no reason to expect any more, so I can't think that I've lost more than all of us who admired, appreciated, and enjoyed her as a wonderful person. And my loss pales in comparison to that of Alegro and Bria, who will not have their mother with them as they live what I hope will be long and fulfilling lives to remember her and Paul.
Ada, you will live forever in my heart.
Be well,
Vic
P.S. My webpage about Ada (https://go.unc.edu/AdaAdimora) has many links, including to several recorded presentations. Some of the links have broken, though I will try to repair them and add others. Please feel free to send me additions for the page.
https://go.unc.edu/vjs - About Vic and his websites
https://go.unc.edu/SJAE - Social Justice and Equality – in Search of John Cassel’s Epidemiology (co-taught with Bill Jenkins – I’ve been enjoying the recordings!); plus a virtual library
https://go.unc.edu/MSC – Vic’s archival webpages for the Minority Student Caucus (check out Anita Holmes’ presentation about the founding of the Caucus – https://go.unc.edu/AnitaHolmes)
https://go.unc.edu/MHC - Vic’s Minority Health Conference pages, including information on many past years’ conferences
https://go.unc.edu/UNCSPH - UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health history, DEI, and more
https://go.unc.edu/AdaAdimora
https://go.unc.edu/BillJenkins
https://go.unc.edu/CharlesVanDerHorst
https://go.unc.edu/EdwardEllis
https://go.unc.edu/GerardoHeiss
https://go.unc.edu/HowardFitts
https://go.unc.edu/JoanHuntley
https://go.unc.edu/JoAnneEarp
https://go.unc.edu/JohnAnderson
https://go.unc.edu/PaulGodley
mscalumnet 1/4/2024