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Melvin Paul Judkins was born May 3, 1922, in Los Angeles, CA. He grew up in a sparsely populated area near Los Angeles raising chickens, goats and cows. He showed an early affinity for all things mechanical and electrical, building crystal sets, learning Morse code, and earning a first class radio operators license. His college aptitude scores were high in engineering and medicine. To pay for his own education at two private church academies, he delivered papers, worked in construction and drove trucks. Later, during WWII, he worked in the Kaiser Shipyards in Long Beach, CA, wiring ships. His premedical education was at Loma Linda College of Arts and Sciences in Riverside, CA, where he received a B.S. in 1945. He chose a career in medicine and enrolled in an accelerated premedical program at La Sierra College, working as a laboratory assistant to cover school expenses. Later, he was accepted into an accelerated program at the College of Medical Evangelists. While attending school, he continued to work in the shipyards during school vacations. Like other medical students at the time, he was eventually inducted into the army.

Dr. Judkins married Loma Linda student nurse Eileen Cobb. A one-year internship at Loma Linda Hospital (1946-1947) was followed by special training in urology and an appointment to the staff. He graduated from Loma Linda University School of Medicine in 1947. After a war-time appointment to the Urology Section of the 28th General Hospital in Osaka, Japan, he and Eileen moved to Sumas, WA, a rural town near the Canadian border, where he started a family practice. Eventually they returned to California to begin a new family practice in Antioch, CA. In 1961, at nearly 40 years old, Dr. Judkins decided to make a career change that brought him to the University of Oregon as a resident in radiology. After a year as a fellow in cardiovascular radiology under Dr. Charles Dotter, Judkins went on to become Director of Cardiovascular Radiology for the UOMS Hospitals and Clinics as well as Professor of Radiology in the Medical School. He held both positions until 1970, when he returned to Loma Linda. While at UOMS, he introduced the Judkins Technique of selective percutaneous transfemoral arteriography, a technique which has been used worldwide. Dr. Judkins died January 28, 1985.