An otolaryngologist, he took a rotating internship at Mount Sinai Hospital, followed by residency training there. He served in the US Air Force for four years before joining the attending staff at Beth Israel Medical Center, where he remained for his entire career. Dr. Adelman was also on the staff of Mount Sinai and Montefiore medical centers and associate clinical professor of otolaryngology at Mount Sinai. He was a life member of the American Academy of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, the Medical Society of the County of New York, and the Medical Society of the State of New York.