Interview of Thomas McPhillips, F.S.C., Ph.D.

Brother Tom McPhillips is a man who dedicated his life to the Christian Brothers since the age of 17 in order to promote the Christian Brother ideals. The values and ideals of the Christian Brothers have played, and will continue to play a significant role throughout his life. Brother Tom McPhillips was born in 1949 to Louise and John McPhillips and was born in Einstein Hospital, located in Philadelphia. Louise was born in Belfast, Ireland, which is a staunch Roman Catholic country, and thus, Brother Tom McPhillip\u27s upbringing was very much imbued with Christian values. All of this was reinforced by the fact that he attended Catholic schools since elementary school. All of the elementary schools were run by the nuns and the high schools were taught by the brothers, and although he didn\u27t connect with the nuns too well, he got along quite well with the brothers. So, since he was a young boy, he was surrounded by the many Christian influences around him, that later led to him joining the Christian Brotherhood of St. Jean Baptiste de La Salle. From the Biology Department web site: Br. Tom McPhillips earned his B.A. in Biology from La Salle University, his M.S. in Biology from Villanova University, and his Ph.D. in Virology and Epidemiology from the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. Upon earning his doctorate he was hired onto the faculty of La Salle University. He is the proud recipient of both the Provost/s Distinguished Educator Award and the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. Previous to his teaching at La Salle, Br. Tom taught high school biology, chemistry, and religion in Lasallian schools in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Since beginning his university teaching career, he has been regularly assigned to the introductory biology course for science majors (Bio 210). He has also taught courses in microbiology, biochemistry, human biology, human genetics, and radiation biology. In addition to his teaching responsibilities in the life sciences, Br. Tom also teaches a seminar for student teachers preparing to teach secondary school science; and he supervises these teachers at area high schools when they are doing their student teaching. For many years Br. Tom was awarded summer study grants in order to work as a summer research scientist at the University of Maryland where he studied reoviruses and paramyxoviruses. He is fortunate enough to have participated in the study that led to the naming of a new genus of viruses, the Aquareoviruses. Altogether Br. Tom has been an author of 24 scientific publications