Ms. Meadows began her career as a cardiac transplant nurse and has spent more than three decades driving meaningful transformation across healthcare, building a distinguished executive career that bridges frontline clinical experience with large-scale health system technology leadership. She served for 15 years as senior vice president and chief digital and information officer at Cook Children’s Health Care System, leading IT and digital health strategy across an integrated delivery network of nine hospitals and directing a team of more than 400 employees spanning infrastructure, applications, advanced analytics, cybersecurity and program management. She previously held senior IT leadership roles at Ascension in St. Louis, including regional director for shared services, where she managed a $16 million operating budget across 10 acute care hospitals. Today, as CIO in residence at symplr, she is a driving force behind the company’s mission to accelerate the transformation of healthcare operations. She played a pivotal role in symplr’s acquisition of a Smart Square, a workforce management technology that helps healthcare leaders anticipate staffing needs, deploy resources to the front lines and improve the workforce experience. In November 2025, she was appointed to the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives foundation board of directors, becoming only the second individual in its history to serve on both the provider and foundation boards. She previously co-chaired the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Healthcare Cybersecurity Task Force. Ms. Meadows received the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives’s “CIO of the Year” award in 2022, the “Baldrige Leadership Excellence Award for Cybersecurity” in 2023, the “Outstanding Service Award” in 2020. She was also recognized on Health Data Management’s “Most Powerful Women in Healthcare IT” list from 2016 through 2019.
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Becker's Recognition
Theresa Meadowshas been named a Becker's honoree on the lists below.
2026 Winner

