Printer-friendly format

In interviews for the presidency of the Southern College of Optometry (SCO), Richard W. Phillips, OD, FAAO, was ready for every question save one.

Why, the student government association wanted to know, did he want this job, anyway?

The attraction was so compelling that he hadn't paused to analyze it. So he gave the first response that came to mind.

"Well," he said, "who wouldn't?"

Taking the helm of the 475-student college this spring, Phillips, 54, says he's eager to join the faculty, staff and students who so impressed him with their compassion and sense of purpose during the interview process.

"To be able to finish my professional career working with a premiere institution that just happens to be my alma matter, I've got to say it's like a dream come true," Phillips said.

The SCO board of trustees announced Phillips' selection in mid-January after a six-month search process. He will become president on May 14.

Phillips succeeds William E. Cochran, OD, an SCO alumnus and its longest-serving president, who is retiring after nearly 40 years of service as an optometrist, educator and leader.

"SCO today is in the enviable position of being one of the top schools for optometry in the nation," Phillips said, praising the leadership of his predecessor.

"I think it's crucial that I absorb the current culture of the school and be immersed in its past and present accomplishments before I begin trying to lead it into its future."

Toward that end, Phillips is reading his way through a 3-feet-high stack of papers to get up to speed on current school business, as well as sitting in on budget meetings before his official tenure begins.

Meanwhile, he's also tying up personal business in Johnson City, his hometown since 1967, and preparing for the move to Memphis. There, he and his wife, Lucy, will be eager to support the local arts scene, since they enjoy a broad range of music and have been active in community theatre in the past.

"We're excited about all that Memphis has to offer," he said.

For Phillips, the opportunity to return to Memphis brings his career full circle. After graduating from SCO in 1978, he opened a solo practice in Johnson City while continuing to commute to Memphis once a month for National Guard duty. He served with the Memphis-based unit for three years and moved to inactive reserve as his practice grew busier.

In 1983, he merged practices with Dr. David Wilson, marking the first OD/MD partnership in Tennessee. Old friends from high school, the two decided over lunch one day that they would like to work together and over time built their partnership into a group practice including two other opthalmologists and three other optometrists.

In 1996, with Wilson's blessing, Phillips left the practice to join TLC Laser Eye Centers®, where he served as regional executive director for Tennessee operations until resigning in 2006. Phillips had worked in Canada with laser surgery procedures before they were approved in the United States, and through his new position he was able to bring the new procedures to eastern Tennessee.

Initially, Phillips' work with TLC was 80 percent clinical, but as the number of centers grew, an increasing amount of his time was spent in administration and relationship building. He continued to spend about 20 percent of this time in clinical practice while also overseeing clinic directors and working with more than 200 doctors in those clinics.

To stay involved in the field as he transitions into SCO leadership, Phillips has been working two days a week at a private practice in rural southwest Virginia.

He has also been active over the years as a frequent lecturer on LASIK surgery, writing articles on laser vision correction and holding prominent positions within the optometric profession.

He is a past president of the Tennessee Optometric Association, SECO International (Southern Council of Optometrists) and the Tennessee Academy of Optometry. A fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, he was named Optometrist of the Year in 1998 by the Tennessee Optometric Association.

Phillips joins SCO as its sixth president as the school marks its 75th anniversary in 2007. The south's oldest college of optometry, SCO is a private, not-for-profit institution staffed by 150 faculty and staff members.

Looking ahead, SCO's incoming president sees part of the college's mission as continuing to forge and cultivate relationships with other healthcare professions.

"Even as I was a student, optometry was branching out and learning that you do not treat the eye as an isolated organ," he said.

"Many cases of diabetes and hypertension are diagnosed by optometrists during routine eye exams. We have seen optometry evolve into an interactive member of the healthcare consortium."

Phillips has had experience in building those relationships, both through his work with TLC and as chairman of the American Optometric Association's professional relations committee.

Among his missions at SCO will be expanding local awareness of its clinical service at The Eye Center, where students perform thorough examinations on hundreds of patients each month.

Staying abreast of new developments and technologies is also a critical responsibility, he said.

"One of the jobs we have as administrators is not just preparing students to practice today, but preparing them for the practice they may well encounter 10 years from now," he said.

"You monitor what's on the horizon and make sure the mindset you develop in students is to always be looking forward."

During his downtime, the new college president is likely to be found fly-fishing on a river or casting for bass and bluegill by the side of a lake.

The son of a theology professor and an attorney, he has three children: Melissa Reading, a lawyer in Atlanta; Richard Phillips, a student at the University of Tennessee School of Law; and Sarah Phillips, 14, whom he's trying to sell on a healthcare career.

Tags:

None