In the 1950s, her family settled in the city of Haifa,[6] where Adelson's father owned and operated several movie theaters. She attended the Hebrew Reali School for 12 years.[7] She served mandatory army service as a medical officer at Ness Ziona. After earning a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology and Genetics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a medical degree from Tel Aviv University's Sackler Medical School, she went on to become the chief internist in an emergency room at Tel Aviv's Rokach (Hadassah) Hospital.