Dr. Adams received his M.D. degree from Louisiana State University Health Science Center in Shreveport and completed his Pediatric Residency at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston 1980. After starting a solo pediatric practice and expanding to a four-pediatrician staff, he re-focused his professional career and completed a Fellowship in Developmental Disabilities at Indiana University Medical Center.

Dr. Adams is board certified through the American Board of Pediatrics in Pediatrics, and in the sub-specialty of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics and through the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in the subspecialty of Neuro-Developmental Disabilities. He remains actively involved in clinical, research, and educational activities.

               Dr. Adams is the Division Director for Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics at UT Southwestern. The Division provides a spectrum of clinical programs under the direction of 19 Division Faculty members. These programs and clinics encompass: Developmental Behavioral Pediatric Clinics and Fellowship Program, The Down Syndrome Clinic, The Adolescent/Young Adult Clinics, The Rees-Jones Center for Foster Care, The Child Abuse Clinics and Fellowship Program, The Center for Dyslexia (at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital,) the Spina Bifida Program (at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital), The Complex Care Clinic, and the Pediatric Palliative Care Program.

He has been appointed by both Governors Bush and Perry as a member of the Texas Interagency Coordinating (I.C.C.)  for Early Childhood Intervention. Dr. Adams served as Chair for the State I.C.C for Texas ECI for a three-year period (completing his Chairmanship in 2017).

He was named 2002 “Child Advocate of the Year” by the Greater Texas Chapter of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners.

Dr. Adams was, in 2009, the recipient – for a second time – of a Special Achievement Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics for his work on behalf of quality outcome measures for children with special needs across the State of Texas.

Dr Adams is a member of the Camp John Marc Advisory Board and for 27 years has served as the medical director of “Camp TLC”, an annual camp for 100 youth with spina bifida. 

Having served as Chair of the Committee on Children With Disabilities for the Texas Pediatric Society (Texas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics) for a decade, he was named “Chair Emeritus” of the Committee and continues to work with Texas state agencies on behalf of children with special needs.

Subsequently, Dr. Adams was elected and re-elected to the Executive Committee for the Council on Children with Disabilities at the national level in the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

Presently, he has accepted a request by the AAP and is serving on its National Advisory Board for a multi-year initiative designated as “Identifying and Managing Social Determinants of Health”. Major responsibilities of the Board are the development of standards of care and functional tools for use by clinicians across the AAP in screening young children for these barriers and providing information that can assist the pediatrician in identification of resources for these families and children.

Dr. Adams and his wife, Kim, have three wonderful children and three delightful grandchildren.