Phillip Hoverstadt is a 4th year MD/MPH student. After graduating from Nolan Catholic High School in Ft. Worth, Texas, Phillip attended the University of Texas in Austin where he received a BS in Biochemistry, graduating Magna Cum Laude. While enrolled at UT Austin, Phillip found his 'home away from home' at the University Catholic Center, where, in the company of phenomenal friends and mentors, increasingly valued the importance of service-centered activities, and the dignity of the human person. After a humanitarian trip to Arteaga, Mexico, an experience that enkindled his interests in international aid and culture, he studied in Guadalajara, Mexico as an exchange student where he studied medicine at a local medical school in addition to rotating in a hospital catering to the underserved. Upon returning to the U.S., he enrolled in an accelerated French course, and then, studied French humanities and culture in Strasbourg, France for five months the following year.
During his first year as a medical student Phillip became heavily involved in a number of service organizations including St. Vincent's Student Clinic, Frontera de Salud, the Ashbel Smith Society, and Catholic Medical Professionals, all of which, in subsequent years, he directed alongside his inspiring peers. During his first three years of medical school, Phillip returned to Mexico on four separate occasions, and completed a two-month research elective in Sao Paulo, Brazil in addition to volunteering at a family medicine clinic located in the heart of Sao Paulo's 'favelas' or slums.
In 2011, Phillip pursued a Master of Public Health (MPH) at UTMB, where he focused on public policy and health care transformation in the state of Texas. While completing his MPH, Phillip, with the assistance of David Darrow, a good friend and fellow Osler scholar, founded an organization known as Student's Together for Service, with the intent of protecting and promoting student service activities on campus and Galveston Island. That same year, under the auspices of Dr. Lee Grumbles and Sue Minello, he developed a hospice care training program for students.
Phillip is immensely grateful for the education received while at UTMB, and continually humbled by the abundant expertise and compassion present amongst the UTMB community. Upon finishing his studies, in the Spring semester, Phillip will work in a developing emergency department in rural Uganda, where he intends on utilizing his training in public health to provide improved access-to-care for the surrounding communities. He will later return to Europe to spend time in prayer with his beloved friends at Fraternité de Tibériade.