Dorothy Jean Phillips (née Wingfield) (born July 27, 1945) is an American chemist and president-elect of the American Chemical Society. She worked on circular dichroism and bioseparation. In 1967 Phillips was the first African-American woman to complete a bachelor's degree at Vanderbilt University.
Early life and education
Phillips grew up in segregation in the southern United States.[1] She was one of eight children. Her father, Reverend Robert Cam Wingfield, worked as a porter for the Greyhound Bus station before attending classes at the American Baptist Theological Seminary to become a Baptist minister.[2] Her mother, Rebecca Cooper Wingfield, did occasional domestic work.[2] As a young girl the only white people Phillips knew were those who had employed her mother.[2]
After graduating, Phillips joined the Dow Chemical Company as a bench scientist.[6][7] She developed circular dichroism and began to work on antibiotics and herbicides.[2] At Dow Chemical Company Phillips helped students from Michigan State University to analyse the antibiotics in animal feed. She established how they might impact animal growth.[2] She is responsible for several patents in the area, including one to improve lactation and another to improve feed utilisation.[8][9][10]
Phillips joined the Waters Corporation in 1984, where she worked in research and development until 1996.[11] At Waters Corporation Phillips was a member of the Chemical Research and Development department, developing chromatography packing materials and bioseparations.[2] Under her leadership the team developed the AccellPlus exchange packings, which could be used to separate proteins.[2] She began to consult the biotechnology company Millipore Corp., travelling the world to talk about the work of the Waters Corporation.[2] Her work expanded to include high-performance liquid chromatography. Phillips also investigated small molecules, including the drug sildenafil.[2] She served as Clinical Marketing Director and Strategic Marketing Director.[12] She was involved with the development of the Waters Corporation Symmetry columns and Oasis cartridges.[11] At both the Dow Chemical Company and Waters Corporation, Phillips moved from research development to business management.[13] After an almost thirty-year career, Phillips retired from the Waters Corporation in 2013 s Director of Strategic Marketing .[1][14]
Academic service
In 1990 Phillips became involved with the American Chemical Society Northeastern Section.[7] She was involved with the American Chemical Society Project SEED, a scheme which allows high school students from disadvantaged backgrounds to complete summer placements in research laboratories.[2] As a candidate in 2013 for the position of director-at-Large for the American Chemical Society, Phillips stated that if she were elected to the position, she would aim to address two issues: global chemistry enterprise and chemical safety.[13] In 2013 Phillips was appointed director-at-large of the American Chemical Society.[1] Since 2014, Phillips has served as the American Chemical Society board liaison for the society's Science and Human Rights program. This program monitors the cases of scientists worldwide whose rights have been abridged. She was re-elected as director-at-Large in 2016, and seeks to use her tenure to improve their 'globalization and diversity'.[15] In 2017 Vanderbilt University created two faculty fellowships in her honour.[4] The inaugural fellowship holder was Renã A. S. Robinson.[16] In the fall of 2019, Philips was re-elected to serve a third term in 2020 on the board of directors for the American Chemical Society.[17]
Phillips was married two weeks after graduating from Vanderbilt University. Her brother, Robert C. Wingfield, serves as director of the Fisk Community Environmental Toxics Awareness and Sustainability Program.[2][27] She has two children, Anthony and Crystal, and a step-daughter called Vickie.[2]
