LITTLE ROCK - Paul H. Phillips, M.D., has been appointed chair of the Department of Ophthalmology in the College of Medicine and director of the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).

Phillips was chosen after a national search was conducted to succeed Westfall, who stepped down as chair of the department in August 2018 to become dean of the College of Medicine.

Phillips was recruited to UAMS in 1997 and has held the rank of professor since 2008. He has served as chief of pediatric ophthalmology at Arkansas Children's Hospital since 2006 and as director of the Ophthalmology Residency Program since 2015. He became the inaugural holder of the Stella Boyle Smith/Gissur J. Petursson, M.D., Chair in Ophthalmology in 2009.

Phillips graduated summa cum laude with his medical degree from State University of New York at Buffalo Medical School in 1989. He interned at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut and completed his ophthalmology residency at the University of Florida Eye Center in Gainesville. He continued his training with a fellowship in neuro-ophthalmology at Emory University Eye Center in Atlanta, followed by a fellowship in pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus at the Wilmer Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Phillips has been certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology since 1995. He is a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society, and the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS). He is a recipient of the AAO Senior Achievement Award and the AAPOS Honor Award and serves as senior associate editor of the Journal of AAPOS. He is president of the Consortium of Pediatric Neuro-Ophthalmologists.