KEELA (FOUGHTY) DAVIS,’06 & ’06 JESSE SCHEVE
CAREER: Director, Mercy Research & Development DEGREES: Bachelor’s in engineering physics, summer ’06; accelerated master’s in biology, December ’06, both MSU; PhD candidate, engineering management, ’14, Missouri S&T LIVES IN: Springfield FAMILY: Husband, Dan, ’05; children Elon, 4, Imara, 3, Adlai, 2
OUTSTANDING YOUNG ALUMNA “Being able to see the products that we’ve created get onto the market and be beneficial to patients in improving their outcomes and improving the way that care is provided — that’s a great accomplishment.” Keela Davis was the first person ever hired by Mercy health system’s research and development division when it was new in 2007, and she has directed the division ever since. Mercy Research & Development, housed in Jordan Valley Innovation Center — part of Missouri State — takes ideas for new medical devices and improved health care procedures and then designs, prototypes, tests and patents products for partners who then license the technology, manufacture it and sell it. Davis is a humanitarian as well as a scientist. She travels to help orphans around the world, providing them with medical care and clothing while trying to help get them adopted. Davis and her husband, Dan, have adopted three children of their own: a 4-year old son from South Korea, and a 3-year-old daughter and a 1-year old son from Congo.
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Which of your professional accomplishments makes you most proud? We started the research and development program from scratch, we’ve grown it, created a lot of products and have been able to do some really neat, unique things here. And I wouldn’t say we’re done. It’s not finished; it’s still a work in progress. Being able to see the products that we’ve created get onto the market and be beneficial to patients in improving their outcomes and improving the way that care is provided — that’s a great accomplishment. What do you do in your spare time? I spend a lot of time volunteering for a nonprofit adoption program and humanitarian aid program. I make a lot of trips to Congo and Nicaragua. I have been to Congo eight
times in the last 18 months. I’m starting a small company over there that will teach people who don’t have jobs or don’t have a trade how to do something, like make shoes and sell them, so I hope to create jobs. How did you become interested in humanitarian issues? We adopted our first child, and we traveled to South Korea to bring him home. That probably started the itch. Then we heard that Congo was one of the worst places on Earth for children, particularly young girls. We connected with some friends and a nonprofit organization that does adoptions and humanitarian aid there, and just decided we needed to go there and see what we can do. By Kelsie Nalley, student writer, office of publications