News

Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College announced Dr. David Meadows as the 2022 Outstanding Alumnus for the School of Human Environmental Science.

NEO will formally honor Meadows during the Outstanding Alumni Banquet on Saturday, Oct 1, at 11 a.m. in the Calcagno Family Ballroom.

All alumni and friends of the college are invited to attend the event. Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for children 12 and under. Purchase tickets at the door or through neo.edu/homecoming. Homecoming festivities will take place Sept 30 through Oct 1, 2022.

Meadows grew up in Miami, Oklahoma. His childhood home was across the street from NEO, and most of his days were spent on campus. He also spent summers working on his parent’s farm east of town.

He recalls playing “Babe Ruth” baseball on the NEO baseball field, pick-up basketball games in the Student Activity Center, roller skating, and riding his bike with his friends and family down the long sidewalks throughout campus.

Meadows earned his associate degree from NEO in pre-engineering. He was active in intramural sports and academic organizations for pre-engineering students.

He transferred to Oklahoma State University, where he completed his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. He earned his master’s degree in chemical and polymer engineering from Purdue University.

After earning his master’s degree, Meadows began working for a large chemical company in Philadelphia. He went on to earn his doctorate in chemical and biomedical engineering from the University of Michigan.

Meadows began his corporate career with Allergan Pharmaceuticals in Irvine, California, working in research and development for new ophthalmic drug discovery. After six years, he moved to Fort Worth, where he completed his 20-year tenure as senior vice president for Alcon Labs.

He has contributed to a wide range of medical products that are now helping improve millions of people’s lives. He invented and developed products resulting in approximately 200 patents and more than 250 scientific publications.

Meadows is now a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of eight companies. He currently lives in Dallas with his wife. They have four children, who are all medical professionals, and four grandchildren.

He said NEO had played an important role in his family’s life for the last 80 years. His father was the first in their family to attend NEO just after World War II. He became an instructor in the agriculture department. Since then, 15 members of the family have attended NEO.

For more information, please contact NEO alumni coordinator Eric Iverson at eiverson@neo.edu.