2006 Distinguished Service Citation

Thomas Jefferson asserted our inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness, but he noted soon after, that there is no happiness without good health. That is where Philip R. Christian, doctor and devoted public servant, comes in. His life-long dedication to the human condition of the poor, the underserved, and the ignored has set standards for medical education, for his peers in the medical field, for public health officials, and for the health industry. Whether he is serving in an emergency M.A.S.H. unit in New York City after the terrorist attacks, in the nation’s Capital organizing the response to an anthrax scare, confronting public health issues at the center of war-torn Haiti, or creating health improvement initiatives for the Seminole Indians in Florida, he has never really strayed from his local concerns and remains involved with AIDS initiatives in Detroit and serving low-income and immigrant populations in Chicago. While setting standards for management as a physician executive, he has never separated himself from the primary care facilities and hands-on medical practice. As a business executive, physician, and caretaker for his own elderly parents, he has responded to the inadequate and disjointed healthcare that has been historically offered to the elderly by offering a fresh model of comprehensive care through community based programs and wrap-around services. He credits his Beloit experience for his professional and personal achievements, noting that each year he more fully appreciates the dynamic between science and creativity. In turn, the Beloit College Alumni Association expresses its appreciation to Phillip Christian on the occasion of his 25th reunion and confers upon him its highest award, the Distinguished Service Citation.