“I don’t know what John and I would have done without Dr. Rodriguez because he just took care of everything,” Mrs. Phillips said at the investiture, recalling the quality of care she and her late husband received. “Dr. Rodriguez, you have such a great, kind heart, and you deserve this more than anyone I know.”
Rodriguez Honored as Inaugural Phillips Orthopaedics Professor
Dr. Raoul P. Rodriguez (M ’60), a foot and ankle specialist who has been with the Department of Orthopaedics since 1965, was invested as the inaugural holder of the Pierrette and John G. Phillips Professorship in Orthopaedics at the School of Medicine in November.
Dr. Raoul P. Rodriguez (M ’60), a foot and ankle specialist who has been with the Department of Orthopaedics since 1965, was invested as the inaugural holder of the Pierrette and John G. Phillips Professorship in Orthopaedics at the School of Medicine in November.
The fund that created the professorship was established in 2017, in accordance with the wishes of the late John G. Phillips and his widow, Pierrette “Petie” Phillips, both former patients of Rodriguez. John Phillips was a longtime chief executive officer of the Louisiana Land and Exploration Co. He also was a staunch friend of Tulane University, joining the Board of Tulane in 1977 and serving as chair from 1978 to 1983. His leadership skills and accounting expertise were instrumental in rejuvenating Tulane’s fiscal health and endowment.
“It’s critical to have endowed positions in the department to continue to have a stable, outstanding faculty that can provide excellent education and delivery of health care,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez has a family legacy of orthopaedics excellence. His father was director of the National Institute of Orthopaedics in Cuba, while two of Rodriguez’s sons are orthopaedists, including Dr. Ramon Rodriguez (B ’91), an assistant professor at the School of Medicine.
