Elizabeth J. Phillips, MD, FRCPC, FRACP, FIDSA, FAAAAI is a Professor of Medicine; Pharmacology; Dermatology, and Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, the Director of Personalized Immunology at the Oates Institute for Experimental Therapeutics, and the Founder and Director of the Center for Drug Safety and Immunology (CDSI) at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). Dr. Phillips is also co-director of the personalized-care scientific working group for the Vanderbilt Center for AIDS Research. Additionally, she is Director of the Centre for Clinical Pharmacology and Infectious Diseases at the Institute for Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia.
Dr. Phillips is a world leader in translational approaches to drug hypersensitivity. She has led clinical and research programs in severe immune-mediated adverse drug reactions, including Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS/TEN) and drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) syndrome, across different medical systems for over 25 years. In addition, she is a leader in the discovery of genetic associations and immunopathogenesis of the acute and follow-up of severe immune-mediated adverse drug reactions, which is in addition to her established leadership in the field of immunogenomics and multiomics that includes her coordination of clinical and basic research in drug hypersensitivity and drug allergy. Dr. Phillips spearheaded the discovery and clinical implementation of HLA-B*57:01 as a routine screening marker used before abacavir prescription to prevent hypersensitivity. She collaborates with researchers in Australia, Africa, and Southeast Asia to study drug hypersensitivity in genetically diverse populations.
Dr. Phillips dedicates her clinical practice to drug hypersensitivity at the Vanderbilt Asthma, Sinus, and Allergy Program (VASAP). In addition, she mentors postdoctoral, graduate, undergraduate, and advanced high school students at VUMC, Vanderbilt University, and the School of Science and Math at Vanderbilt. Dr. Phillips has founded and chaired annual international scientific meetings on severe immune-mediated adverse drug reactions, including SJS/TEN 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023, and the DRESS Syndrome 2022 meeting.