Bob Phillips, M.D., Class of 1976, was honored during the UAB Ophthalmology Graduation Celebration with the Distinguished Alumnus Award on May 31, 2019.

Phillips is a native of Holly Springs, Mississippi, and grew up in a small town in northwest Tennessee, north of Memphis. He received both a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Mississippi, where he was a member of the University Scholars Program. Phillips was awarded his medical degree from the University of Tennessee in Memphis in 1968 and then completed a medical internship at the University of Tennessee Hospitals in Memphis. Phillips then served in the United States Air Force, obtaining the rank of Major as a general medical officer stationed at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, England. His residency in Ophthalmology was completed at the University of Alabama in 1976.

He pursued additional postgraduate fellowship training in Cornea and External Disease at the Duke University Eye Center and completed his fellowship during the years 1976-1977. Upon returning to Birmingham, he accepted a position with the Jefferson Clinic at Cooper Green Hospital as Chief of the Ophthalmology Department and joined the clinical faculty of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In 1983, Alabama Ophthalmology Associates (AOA) was formed. He continued to work with AOA for 30 years with a focus on cornea and external diseases.

He has been named to the Best Doctors in America each year since 2001. He is board-certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology and is a fellow in the American College of Surgeons. He is an active member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, a former board member of the Alabama Academy of Ophthalmology, a member of the National Cornea Society, and a founding member of the International Ocular Surface Society. He served as Chairman of the Surgery Committee at the Callahan Eye Hospital. He has also served as President of the Medical Staff at the Callahan Eye Hospital and is currently serving as Chairman of the Board of Advancing Sight Network.

"The Distinguished Alumnus Award honors a resident alumnus of UAB Ophthalmology who has brought recognition and credit to the department, their community, and the profession of ophthalmology through their activities over the course of their career," said Russell Read, M.D., Ph.D., the Max and Lorayne Cooper Professor of Ophthalmology Residency Training. "We are honored to have Dr. Phillips serve as our inaugural recipient of this award."