Title: Vice Provost
Company: Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
Location: Macon, Georgia, United States
Linda R. Adkison, PhD, vice provost of the Philadelphia College, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Educators for dedication, achievements, and leadership in osteopathic medicine.
Across fifty years, Dr. Adkison has built an impressive professional life in healthcare education. Passionate about science from a young age, she was encouraged by science teachers and influential figures such as Drs. E. Peter Volpe, Sara Neville Bennett, and W. Douglas Skelton, who became early mentors encouraging her to pursue a challenging education in genetics and studying DNA. She was also greatly influenced by her parents and grandparents, who laid the foundation for her personality and behavior in the years that followed. Dr. Adkison has credited her success to the influence of these mentors and sponsors throughout her career.
Despite willingly setting out on an impressive academic journey, Dr. Adkison’s career did not always come easily. She worked during high school with Bell South and Southern Bell Telephone Companies as an operator and on the frame. Her first job after graduating from Georgia Southern University was a laboratory technician for VA Hospital and Shands Teaching Hospital in Gainesville, Florida, which she held between 1973 and 1975. Dr. Adkison then returned to academia as a graduate teaching assistant at Georgia Southern University from 1975 to 1977 before becoming a research associate with the University of South Alabama Medical School from 1978 to 1980, and an instructor at St. Mary’s Dominican College from 1980 to 1981.
Dr. Adkison subsequently focused on research as a graduate research assistant at the Tulane University School of Medicine from 1980 to 1982 and Texas A&M University from 1982 to 1986 as the first doctoral student of Dr. James Womack. In 1989, she accepted her first professorship as an assistant professor of genetics at the Mercer University School of Medicine, where she was promoted to a professor of genetics as well as obstetrics and gynecology in 1999. Progressing into leadership roles in higher education, Dr. Adkison dedicated significant time as the associate dean at the Kansas City University College of Medicine and Biosciences from 2008 to 2015, dean of Trinity School of Medicine from 2016 to 2019, and provost at the Trinity Medical Sciences University from 2017 to 2019.
Additionally, Dr. Adkison contributed to Swope Health Services as a member of the executive committee, the chair of the quality assurance committee, a member of the strategic planning committee, and a member of the board of directors between 2014 and 2023. She has also served as secretary for the Swope Health Foundation since 2023. She likewise became involved with the Commission on Osteopathic Colleges Accreditation (COCA), the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners, Leadership Macon, the Society for Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine, and Georgia Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission throughout her career. The co-author of two textbooks, Dr. Adkison has also penned multiple, peer-reviewed scientific articles in her field of genetics and medical education between 1980 and 2025.
Dr. Adkison’s trajectory led her to the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine as a professor of genetics and associate provost in 2020 and vice provost in 2024. She oversees accreditation processes for the institution’s primary campus in Philadelphia and two campuses in Georgia. Dr. Adkison provides oversight for the college’s Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Research, which utilizes data to aid decision-making and ensure that programs achieve their goals. She also provides oversight for the career counseling program for osteopathic medical students and develops performance evaluations for more than 500 medical students and graduates each year.
In addition to her responsibilities at the aforementioned college, Dr. Adkison has been active as the principal of LRA Academic Consulting LLC since 2019 providing guidance in medical education in multiple countries. Moreover, she is a trained evaluator for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) since 2024 and the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and other Health Professions (CAAM-HP) since 2023. In 1993, she was a visiting scientist at the Institute of Cytology and Genetics with Novosibirsk Russia. Dr. Adkison also provided her wealth of expertise to the Georgia College and State University School of Nursing in Milledgeville, Georgia from 2000 to 2002. In 2007, Dr. Adkison completed a sabbatical at Meharry Medical School in the offices of the dean and the associate dean for student affairs in Nashville, Tennessee.
Prior to embarking upon her professional journey, Dr. Adkison recognized the importance of education, beginning with an Associate of Arts and Sciences in general studies from Pensacola State College (formerly Pensacola Junior College) in 1971. She obtained a Bachelor of Science in biology from Georgia Southern University in 1973. Subsequently, Dr. Adkison earned a Master of Science from Georgia Southern University in 1977 and a PhD from Texas A&M University in 1986. She went on to complete a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellowship at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine from 1986 to 1989. Committed to continued learning and growth, Dr. Adkison was selected for the prestigious Hedwig van Amerigen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine for Women fellowship program for 1999 to 2000.
When looking back on her career, Dr. Adkison considers her greatest highlights as tied to witnessing her students graduate and enter their careers. Dr. Adkison views graduation day as the greatest day of the year, every year. She has also had the opportunity to develop noteworthy research projects, including research in gene mapping and characterization and mutational analysis along with her work in medical education. Recognized as a Distinguished Biology Alumni by Georgia Southern University in 1999, Dr. Adkison was further celebrated as an Alumni Honoree by the aforementioned university in 2019. She was also featured in various editions of Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare, Who’s Who in Science and Engineering, Who’s Who in the South and Southwest, Who’s Who of American Women, and Who’s Who in the World.
Outside of her primary endeavors, Dr. Adkison has been affiliated with the International Association of Medical Science Educators, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association of Professors of Human and Medical Genetics, and the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners, among others. She had likewise been recruited to the board of directors for the Genetics Society of Georgia between 1990 and 1997, subsequently serving as secretary for three years afterward. Additionally, Dr. Adkison was noted as a councilor-at-large for the Georgia Academy of Science from 2002 to 2005 and a women liaison officer for the Association of American Medical Colleges from 1994 to 2007.
Beyond her career, Dr. Adkison is the proud mother of two children and loving grandmother to three boys. She finds fulfilment outside of work in the garden and practicing martial arts in which she holds a 5th degree blackbelt in taekwondo and is an instructor. Dr. Adkison remains committed to helping students reach their full potential as she prioritizes the success of her students and the strength of the greater educational community over her own personal milestones. She looks forward to continuing to find ways to improve the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, implement new strategies, programs, and metrics that enable her students to individually achieve their best.
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Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine Profile
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