Dr. Stephanie Phillips has been watching a lot of YouTube videos lately.
It’s not for entertainment, though. The general surgeon and ambulatory physician lead is in search of the ultimate executive tip or trick to stay on top of a growing roster of responsibilities that’s only getting longer as she settles into an additional role as Niagara Health’s first deputy chief of staff.
“The Microsoft To Do app is my new favourite,” Dr. Phillips says. “Part of my love of organizing is making lists and charts.”
Dr. Phillips officially started the new role on July 15. Her appointment follows an organizational review that found the demands on the chief of staff portfolio had expanded significantly, requiring additional leadership support to advance key priorities.
Dr. Phillips will work alongside Dr. Kevin Chan, Executive Vice-President, Medical, and Chief of Staff, to strengthen medical leadership, physician engagement and governance across the organization. She will also support initiatives, including the opening of the new South Niagara Hospital in 2028, moving to a three-site model of care and continuing to refine patient access and flow for optimal care.
"I like the strategy stuff. That's what gets me out of bed."
The new post is a natural progression for Phillips. Her leadership experience spans several positions, including as the former surgical site lead at Marotta Family Hospital, regional education lead of McMaster University’s general surgery residency program at the Niagara Regional Campus and, most recently, ambulatory physician lead, which she’ll continue doing alongside some surgery.
Along the way, she has worked closely with physicians, nurses and patients while tackling operational challenges, managing conflict and improving the flow of surgical services.
"I see the deputy role as an amalgamation of the two roles I'm already doing and taking it to the next level," she says. "I like the strategy stuff. That's what gets me out of bed."
Leadership was never part of Dr. Phillips’ original career plan. “Never the leadership type” in medical school, she wasn’t interested in helming any big projects.
During residency, her focus shifted to raising three children, which also limited opportunities to take on more.
She learned she loved leading after joining Niagara Health, when she was encouraged to help start a surgery residency program. She wound up becoming the regional lead and serving in that role for nearly a decade.
"I said, 'Fine, I'll be voluntold,'" Dr. Phillips says with a laugh. "That was the start of it and I thought, 'Oh, I like this organizational and leadership stuff.'"
A handful of leadership roles later during her 17 years with Niagara Health and Dr. Phillips has discovered she enjoys building systems nearly as much as performing surgery. Whether it's experimenting with new technologies like To Do, learning the magic that a pivot table can work when doing up an operating room schedule in Excel or finding better ways to organize patient care, she admits she constantly looks for improvements.
"Even when I would try to stop and take a break, a new opportunity would come up and I would take them. Clearly, I like organizing things."
That includes her calendar outside of work. Today, Dr. Phillips is a mom of five, grandma of two young boys and has her black belt in karate, which she’s now following up with lessons in Brazilian jujitsu.
As she learns and shapes her new role while maintaining her responsibilities as ambulatory physician lead and reducing her surgical workload, Phillips says the relationships she has built over the years will be as important as any organization hack she learns from an online video.
"I've spent a lot of time talking to people and getting to know people, so I'm hoping those relationships I built will help me,” Dr. Phillips says. “You're always going to have to make hard decisions but the more we can do collaboratively, it always works better in the end, and it always starts with relationships. You're not going to get anywhere in a project without foundational relationships.”
