Adrienne A. Phillips, M.D.?
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, Hematology/Oncology
The New York Presbyterian Hospital ?
Columbia University Medical Center
New York City
Age: 38
As a third-generation physician, Adrienne A. Phillips is following in her family?s footsteps. ?I remember playing doctor and shadowing both of my parents at a very young age. As I got older, I shadowed my mom when she made rounds in the hospital and volunteered at hospitals and nursing homes,? explains Phillips, a figure skater who competed nationally and internationally. ?I was always intrigued by the human body and enjoyed playing the board game Operation, dissecting a frog in middle school, and learning about my mom?s ?tools,? for example, her microscope, stethoscope.?
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Today, Phillips is an assistant professor of clinical medicine at The New York Presbyterian Hospital ? Columbia Univer-sity Medical Center, where she also conducts clinical research in leukemia and lymphoma and sees patients. Phillips graduated from Brown University with a bachelor?s degree in human biology and Latin American studies and a medical degree with honors. She holds a master?s of public health degree from Harvard University. ?With cancer patients specifically, I am uniquely able to mix the science and
art of medicine,? explains Phillips, who received the American Society of Hematology/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-Harold Amos Medical Faculty Award to research new therapies for adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma.
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?Oncology is challenging because, although my successes are quite rewarding, I get emotionally tied to my patients and if they do poorly, I take it personally.?
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Phillips completed the New York marathon and a triathlon. She volunteers at the Newark Museum Explorers Program and as an ambassador for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Most importantly, she wants to follow her family?s tradition of sharing her healing hands with the world. ?I?d like to be a leader in global oncology, bringing effective cancer treatment and prevention programs to underdeveloped countries in the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa,? she says.
