Fairleigh Dickinson U. president Michael Adams takes leave to undergo treatment for blood-related disorder
The Star-Ledger
October 13, 2011
Veteran Fairleigh Dickinson University President J. Michael Adams is taking a leave of absence from the state's largest private university to undergo intensive treatment for a serious blood-related disorder, campus officials said today.
Adams, 63, began having health problems over Labor Day weekend and was eventually diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, a disease known as MDS that affects bone marrow and impairs blood production.
"It is very serious and requires immediate attention, but I am confident I will overcome this," Adams said in an e-mail sent today to the campus.
Doctors believe the illness is related to chemotherapy treatments Adams received six years ago when he was diagnosed with lymphoma, said Dina Schipper, a campus spokeswoman.
Adams will be treated at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York as an inpatient for four or five weeks of chemotherapy, Schipper said. It is unclear when he will return.