Dr. Preston Phillips, a former surgical resident at the Yale School of Medicine, was among the four victims killed last week in a mass shooting in Tulsa, Okla. He is remembered by Yale colleagues as a superb physician with a beaming smile and “a handshake that felt like a hug.”
After graduating from Harvard Medical School, Dr. Phillips joined YSM for surgical residency. He completed his intern year in General Surgery and went on to graduate from the Orthopedic Surgery program in 1996.
“Preston was a special part of our Yale Surgery family — and my training years, especially,” said Walter Longo MD, who was in his chief year of surgical residency at Yale at the time Preston was an intern.
“If you haven’t been through it, it is hard to conceive just how intense surgical training really is; and consequently, the impression that the people you train with have on your life. We were a tight-knit group.”
Outside of the operating room, Dr. Phillips was an all-star on the Yale Surgery Residency Basketball Team. With teammates, Drs. Carnell Cooper, Tim George, Walter Longo, and Marc Mandel, the team swept the season, beating all the other residency programs, including anesthesiology in the semifinals. The Law School clenched the finals.
“We had a unique chemistry on the basketball court — a testament perhaps to the special bonds you form in residency,” said Dr. Mandel, who, like Dr. Longo, completed his training during Dr. Phillips’ first year on the job.
Dr. Phillips went on to fulfill his promise as a gifted and generous surgeon — still with basketball a major theme in his career. The sought-after orthopedic surgeon and section chief at the Warren Clinic, served as the team doctor for the WNBA Tulsa Shock.
“Preston was a big man with a wonderful smile. He had large hands, and when he would shake hands with you, it was like he was giving you a hug; you felt the warmth of his heart,” Dr. Mandel said.
“We remember him for that.”
Dr. Phillips was 59 when he was killed by a gunman who opened fire at his Saint Francis Hospital clinic.
YSM Dean, Dr. Nancy Brown, mourned the shooting in a school-wide address, encouraging physicians and healthcare leaders to “engage in the pressing national dialogue on gun violence and behavioral health.”
Support: Please know that there are resources that may be helpful to the community during this time of grief and sadness. A list of resources is available here. An updated Wellbeing Resources guide offered by the GME Office, YNHH, and YSM is available here.