“If you’re a med student and you meet with someone and say, ‘I love this thing’ — whatever it is — they’ll say, ‘We’ll do everything we can to get you there,’” Phillips said.

To some, the connection between theater and the life sciences is nonexistent. Phillips likes to prove them wrong.

“In one area of my life, I get to be very investigative and scientific," he said. "I have to see things in a way that requires me to take a step back and disassociate myself from the emotional experience. In the other, it’s all about not only embracing my own emotions, but trying to create emotions and beliefs in service of the role I’m playing. The two combined — that’s being humanistic.”

Performance helps him cultivate his confidence and put people at ease, skills he can carry over to the lab or hospital. Plus, Phillips has always wanted to teach, and he sees the stage as similar to the front of the classroom.

His complementary interests flourished at Brown, where he founded and led the forensic pathology pre-clinical elective; served as co-president of the Medical Records a cappella group; and ran science workshops for local fourth-graders in the Providence Public School District — “They got to dissect a sheep’s heart, and they loved it!” — among many other pursuits.

“Brown does a really good job of inviting the right people into its community — the faculty really care about advancing their field, teaching about their field and inspiring students,” he said. “The pathologists specifically, you could just tell how much they love their work. I think the only thing they loved more than their job was getting to teach.”

Though Phillips will soon leave Brown, he won’t have to travel far to visit. His next home will be Boston, where he’ll complete his residency at Harvard Medical School for the newly created joint Mass General Brigham Pathology Residency Program all while continuing to explore local opportunities in theater, dance, acting and singing.

As he looks beyond his time in Boston, Phillips hopes the subsequent chapters of his life look similar to his time at Brown — just reverse the roles.

“I want to be a faculty member at a medical school where I do a lot of teaching, a lot of mentoring, a little bit of research, and be totally engaged in a robust practice where I’m constantly learning and surrounded by people who are hungry for knowledge,” Phillips said. “That’s how I want to be — never not learning.”