Dennis P. Phillips, DO has been appointed to the position of Medical Director of Quality in the UPMC/Pitt Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine in partnership with the Wolff Center of UPMC, effective October 1, 2020.
Dr. Phillips initially trained to become a nurse anesthetist at the University of Pittsburgh and worked as a CRNA at UPMC Presbyterian. He returned to Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine for medical school and earned his DO in 2007. Dennis completed his anesthesiology residency in our department, where he served as Associate Chief Resident. He obtained further training at UPMC, completing fellowships in adult cardiothoracic anesthesiology and anesthesiology critical care medicine. He joined the faculty in our department in 2013 and is currently an attending anesthesiologist in our Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Division with a secondary appointment in the Department of Critical Care Medicine, attending the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit at UPMC Presbyterian. Since 2016, he has served as the Chair of the Quality Improvement Committee for Anesthesiology at UPMC Presbyterian. In the UPMC Graduate Education Office, Dennis co-chairs the Leadership in Education And Patient Safety Committee overseeing patient safety and quality improvement education for all graduate medical trainees within UPMC and serving as a resource for Program Directors throughout the institution. Dr. Phillips recently completed the Advanced Training Program to earn a certificate in Healthcare Delivery Improvement from Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City, UT, a national and world leader in Healthcare Delivery Quality Improvement.
In Dennis’ new role, he will develop and lead the key components of the Department’s Quality Improvement initiatives. He will also partner with other clinical departments in the system and serve as a physician advisor to the Wolff Center. In this capacity Dennis will partner with Tami Minnier (Chief Quality Officer of UPMC and Executive Director for the Beckwith Institute), participating in the strategic planning for the design, ongoing development, implementation, and evaluation of quality and patient safety matters across the system.
Congratulations to Dr. Phillips on this appointment and we thank him for all his work so far in this area that has culminated in the formalization of this role.