Steven
Lloyd Neal was born in Nephi, Utah,
to Lloyd and Donna Neal. Brother to two brothers and three
sisters, Steve spent his childhood in the then-rural city of
Murray, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. He had an early
morning paper route, leads in school plays, sang in the choir,
received his Eagle scout, and played the trumpet, guitar, and
piano, and wrote many songs. But art was his first love.
Painting his first large oil painting at 15 Steve was awarded a
college scholarship for the mini-masterpiece. It was his love of art that would
eventually attract him to facial plastic surgery.
Steven attended college at
Brigham Young University with
a scholastic merit scholarship and a fine arts scholarship from
Murray High School. He graduated magna cum laude from BYU
with a Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies and pre-med. He also
was awarded High Honors and designated a University Scholar for his
research on the impact of Japan's Meiji Era medical doctors on the
modernization of Japan. His schooling was interrupted for two
years when he served a mission for
The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Japan. While there he became fluent
in spoken and written Japanese and learned oriental cooking---
skills he still retains today.
Before leaving BYU, Steven met and married Susan Clark. Steven,
Susan, and their young family moved to San Antonio, Texas, where
Steven attended medical school on scholarship at the
University of Texas Health Science Center.
He graduated 6th in his class of 200 and was
inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society.
Afterward, Dr. Neal did his general surgery internship at
University of California at San Diego Medical Center, and
subsequent residency in Head and Neck Surgery, with an emphasis
in facial plastic surgery. It was his art background that
attracted him to facial plastic surgery. Noticing the
strong similarities in both fields, Dr. Neal has fused them
together to form his life’s work.
Finished with school, the Neals were recruited by and moved
to Pendleton, Oregon, and Dr. Neal opened his current medical
practice in 1987. The practice has been and continues to be
extremely successful and one of the premier clinics in northeast
Oregon and southeast Washington. It is in Pendleton that he and
Susan raised their six daughters.
Dr. Neal’s
contributions to the medical field have been tremendous. He is
nationally known in his specialty for the art and aesthetic
courses he teaches, specifically for the yearly Art of
Rhinoplasty course in San Francisco, where surgeons are
instructed how to improve their aesthetic judgment. He has
created a sculpture, “The Art & Soul” for The Academy of Facial
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery which is housed at its
national headquarters in Washington D.C. (Shown next to website
menu; read more about it in the Art Portfolio)
Along with his talents in the medical field, Dr. Neal has
continued developing his love of art and has, litterally, a second
career in the arts, devoting hundreds of hours yearly to the
creation of immaculate paintings, sculptures and monuments. His
works have received distinguished awards such as the Grand Prize
Award at the LDS Church Museum Art Competition in 1987
for his well known painting The Tree of Life. He has
been commissioned to do monumental pieces such as
Duty Calls and Duty Triumphs, both twice life-size
pieces to be displayed in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the new
Mormon Battalion Center at Heritage Park. You can read more
about and view these and others in the
Art Portfolio
portion of this website. He also is a
contributor to
Meridian Magazine with the column
“The Medicine of Art” which explores the connection between his two
fields. Dr. Neal also enjoys Asian gourmet cooking, music,
singing, and spending time with family. He is active in both
his church and community.
