David Campbell Meek, M.D., was born in 1930 to parents who were teaching school in Harlan, Kentucky. Soon they moved their family to Martin, Tennessee. David received his pre-medical education at the University of Tennessee at Martin, where he served as editor of the college newspaper. He graduated from medical school in 1953, married and became the father of three children, served as an Army captain, became a Board-certified internist, and continued to practice medicine until 2003. He gives his mother credit for stimulating his interest in books by paying him a nickel for each library book he read.