Rick Allen – Outstanding Pharmacy Alumnus Award Recipient 2022

• Class of 1970
• Dallas, TX
• Semi-Retired; Former CEO of Paragon Healthcare, Inc.

“We are extremely proud of Rick and his outstanding endeavors and achievements,” College of Pharmacy Interim Dean Dr. Les Ramos said. “He is an inspiration for our student pharmacists.”

Rick Allen of Dallas (TX) was presented the 2022 Southwestern Oklahoma State University College of Pharmacy Outstanding Pharmacy Alumnus Award on the SWOSU campus in Weatherford, Oklahoma. The Outstanding Pharmacy Alumnus Award is presented to a SWOSU pharmacy graduate who has demonstrated support of the College of Pharmacy and outstanding personal achievements in the pharmacy profession.

Rick has been an innovator in the pharmacy industry for more than forty years. He began leaving his mark not long after graduating from SWOSU in 1970. At 22 years old, he opened North Star Pharmacy in Dallas. His career eventually led him to home infusion, where he has spent the last 30+ years building his legacy in specialty pharmacy. Among his leadership roles, Rick has served as co-founder and owner of Lake Pointe Pharmacy and Chief Pharmacy Officer for Option Care. In 1996, Rick founded Dougherty’s Home Infusion, where he served as Clinical Infusion Director for six years before taking it public as Park Infusion Care.

In September 2002, Rick co-founded Paragon Healthcare, Inc. in Dallas, where he would spend the next two decades as President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board, growing the company from three employees to more than one thousand nationwide today. Paragon offers services in-home infusion therapy, infusion center site-of-care operations, specialty pharmaceuticals, rare disease care, bleeding disorder treatment and management, and in-office infusion suite solutions for physicians. In addition to its home office in Plano, TX, Paragon has more than 55 locations from coast-to-coast, including 17 home infusion pharmacies and 37 infusion centers, with more opening soon. In January 2022, Rick semi-retired and stepped down as CEO.

Rick has earned many accolades over the years. In 2015, he was the Southwest Region Winner and a National Finalist in Healthcare as part of Ernst & Young’s prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year program. In 2018, he was “Most Admired CEO” (Dallas Business Journal). Under Rick’s leadership, Paragon Healthcare earned a spot on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies six consecutive years, the Dallas Business Journal’s Middle Market 50 list for seven consecutive years and was named one of the Top 100 Places to Work by the Dallas Morning News.

Rick has also made a profound impact on many philanthropic organizations in and around Dallas. Most notably, he has devoted countless hours and resources to the American Heart Association, serving on the Board of Directors and Executive Leadership Committee since 2008. Rick can be credited for millions of dollars raised for AHA as Cotes du Coeur co-chair, alongside his wife, Trisha. He has also served as an Advisory Director for the National Home Infusion Association since 1998 and remains involved as a consultant to many professional groups and organizations.

His generosity also includes charitable giving to the SW Pharmacy Foundation to support the SWOSU College of Pharmacy and its endeavors. Furthermore, Rick’s impact goes beyond the pharmacy profession and his community – it extends to his friends, including classmates that he met as a pharmacy student at SWOSU. In 2014, unbeknownst to Rick, a group of his classmates generously made donations to the SW Pharmacy Foundation to establish the Richard M. Allen Scholarship to honor Rick and to show their SWOSU pharmacy pride. From this endeavor, a scholarship has been awarded each year to a SWOSU College of Pharmacy student, thus extending Rick’s impact.

Rick enjoys snow skiing, sailing, golf, and spending time in Colorado with Trisha (a SWOSU graduate) and their family: son Drew, daughter-in-law Denise, and grandchildren Kane and Ella.

Posted: October 28, 2022