UAMS Dedicates Atrium in Research Building to Adams

By todd

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LITTLE ROCK – A bright and airy atrium in the Biomedical Research Building I on the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) campus is now named for Helen Guinn Adams, who left a more than $8.7 million bequest to UAMS in 2005 asking that the money be dedicated to research.


 


UAMS unveiled two plaques today during a dedication ceremony for the Helen Guinn Adams Atrium that included UAMS officials and members of the Adams family. The atrium is a popular meeting place for researchers and students in the research-focused building where scientists are conducting work on health problems ranging from cancer to drug addiction that could lead to new medical treatments.


 


In March 2005, the $8.735 million bequest from Adams, who died in 2004, was announced. The money, one of the most sizeable gifts by an individual in support of medical research, was used to create “The Helen Guinn Adams Research Endowment,” a permanent fund in support of medical research at UAMS.


 


“We are proud to honor the memory of Helen Guinn Adams by naming the wonderful atrium in our Biomedical Research Building for her,” said UAMS Chancellor I. Dodd Wilson. “Her thoughtful gift will have a long-lasting influence in bringing about changes in health care through improved medical research.”


 


Plaques honoring Adams and her gift to UAMS were unveiled in the atrium and in a section of UAMS Medical Center that leads to the Biomedical Research Building.


 


Adams was born April 9, 1906, in Huntsville, the daughter of James Henry Guinn, a merchant, and Nannie Stotts Guinn. Adams graduated from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville in 1929. She married Roy A. Adams of Fayetteville and the couple owned Adams Flower Shop there. Roy Adams died in 1968 and Helen Adams left the florist business. The couple had no children.


 


Charles Stewart of Fayetteville, her nephew and executor, said when the bequest was announced that his aunt’s interest in medical research may have stemmed from a bout with bone cancer in her jaw, for which she was successfully treated at UAMS about 15 years ago. Adams also had donated to UAMS as a member of the Chancellor’s Circle.


 


UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, five centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has about 2,320 students and 690 medical residents. It is one of the state’s largest public employers with almost 9,000 employees, including nearly 1,000 physicians who provide medical care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital and the VA Medical Center. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact in Arkansas of $4.3 billion a year.