“Dr. Neustadt had gotten a grant through [President] Nixon’s $4.5-million grant for arthritis research,” she said in a 2007 interview with The Rheumatologist. The funding was intended to spark the development of clinic and home care programs for financially disadvantaged people with arthritis. Although Phillips had little knowledge of rheumatology practice or patient care, Dr. Neustadt hired her as coordinator of the program. When grant support ended in 1976, Phillips joined Dr. Neustadt’s private practice. She worked there for more than three decades, retiring from full-time practice in April.
Phillips served for many years on the executive board and many other committees of the Arthritis Foundation’s Kentucky chapter. She has also chaired and coordinated several rheumatology symposiums. In 1991, she received the Arthritis Foundation Outstanding Professional Education Award. She has been an ARHP member since 1974, serving on multiple committees as both chair and member. “I give the ARHP high marks for teaching me what I need to know to grow in the field of rheumatology,” she said in a recent synopsis of the ARHP. “My clinic role varies pending the need, but I always feel prepared to meet the challenge because of my learning opportunities at the annual meetings. I’ve had a meaningful and fulfilling career. I think 38 years with the same perfectionist rheumatologist confirms my value to both him and our patients.”
Semi-retired, Phillips is working part time in a new rheumatology practice—enjoying what she refers to as “the benefits of both worlds, time for new ventures and time to stay involved in rheumatology.”
Richard Quinn is a freelance writer in New Jersey.
