Interview
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School
Fayetteville State University *
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Course
300
Subject
Arts Humanities
Date
Jan 9, 2024
Type
docx
Pages
2
Uploaded by msnightowl24
Shayla Armstrong
Interview Report
The person I chose to interview is the Presidential Professor of the Department of
Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
in Oklahoma City. Margeret Phillips has worked at OUHSC for over 27 years. Dr. Phillips
worked her way up and with admirable accomplishments, she is proud to hold her current
position as Chair and Presidential Professor for the past 3 years. Her main responsibilities as
Chair and Professor include being a teacher, a mentor, and a manager over the entire department.
She is more than happy and dedicated to being in her position and says she would not change a
thing about how she got here.
Dr. Phillips began her journey in Occupational & Environmental Health by graduating
with a Bachelor's in Chemistry in 1980, where she moved on to get a PhD in the same field. She
realized she wanted to work in health safety so as soon as she finished her doctorate she went to
John Hopkins School of Public Health where she obtained her Master's in Industrial Hygiene. In
1996, Dr. Phillips began her career with OU as an Associate Professor for graduate students in
the Industrial Hygiene and Environmental Health Sciences. Since her time at OUHSC, she has
worked with graduate students on several research projects. Her current research interest, as she
recalls, includes investigating occupational exposures to respirable silica dust and its effects on
human and environmental health. Her most recent research proved an abundance of silica in
specific jobs that require the use of powered hand tools on stone countertops. The study used
various methods, including X-ray diffraction to determine silica count, in order to prove these
workers are at risk of overexposure to silica dust particles. With conclusive data such as the data
from this study, Dr. Phillips (and other colleagues) can communicate with separate powers in the
Shayla Armstrong
Occupational and Environmental Health fields to address the issues and implement a plan to help
change negative workplace habits.
I chose to interview Dr. Phillips because she was a person of interest in a career field I
hope to work in one day. I found Dr. Phillips through an OUHSC student whom I know
personally. My friend informed me that she worked closely with Dr. Phillips in recent years and
that she is a wonderful person to educate me on the department’s research components. After
speaking with Dr. Phillips, I would describe her approach to the environment as very scientific
with a hint of applied principles. She began her early studies with Chemistry, which has helped
her analyze data collection as well as apply her knowledge of fundamental elements to intensify
her research. My approach stems from a respect for humanities as I take a more philosophical
and theory-based approach to the environment versus calculating and testing in a laboratory.
Since she mostly deals with health concerns and specific environmental hygiene, Dr.
Phillips expressed her approach to the environment as “unavoidable” as her work focuses on
helping the environment just as much as the health of our people. She mentioned in her work
“the smallest things are what matters—the things we cannot see with our bare eyes.” From this, I
began to think differently about my approach to the Environment. I realize that many things that
are important in our environment we cannot see but we know it is there.
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