Dr. Philip directs the Neuroscience and Rehabilitation Laboratory, which focuses on the interaction between hand dominance, brain lateralization, and rehabilitation following unilateral impairment such as stroke, amputation, or nerve injury. He combines behavioral, neuroimaging, and neuromodulation methods to understand how the brain and body change after impairment, and how they can further change during rehabilitation. Toward this end, he is also interested in the assessment of sensory and motor function in the hand, and the cortical asymmetries that underlie handedness and hand-specific learning. By understanding the cortical asymmetries that drive performance and participation, and how this organization changes in pathological conditions, he hopes to improve rehabilitation and care for patients with unilateral impairment, especially of the dominant hand.

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My primary goal as a mentor is to help the mentee develop the training, skills, and habits of a successful scientist -- which includes helping the mentee develop their personal definition of a “successful scientist.” Together, the mentee and I will develop research projects with joint ownership, and an interpersonal relationship based on trust and mutual respect.

Every individual has a different approach to mentorship, science, communication, and their career. I believe that a group’s success depends more on successful and productive interpersonal relationships than on any measure of individual capability. Therefore, I will work with my mentees in their first months to develop an individualized and mutually agreed-on research/collaboration plan. This plan will cover goals, expectations, communication styles, authorship/credit, and feedback mechanisms. We will revise this plan at least yearly as research goals and plans evolve.

As a mentor, I seek a collaborator who can help develop ideas, implement planned research, and who brings new perspectives to the laboratory. My style is feedback-heavy, with an emphasis on helping you shape your ideas. I will support my mentees’ career by immersing them in an environment of the highest research skills and ethics. The mentee will learn on the job through instruction and example, and through classes, and also be encouraged to use the professional development opportunities provided across Washington University.

My laboratory is small, which ensures that my mentees will receive ample one-on-one interaction and collaboration. To balance this, and because the best mentoring comes from a network, I will help my mentees identify additional mentors from outside the lab.

I will support my mentees in the development of writing and scientific presentation skills, toward the goal of mentees achieving individual grants and gaining recognition at national conferences.

I and all members of my laboratory believe that it is our responsibility to make science a welcoming place for scientists of all backgrounds, especially those who have previously faced barriers to careers in the sciences. We recognize that all human beings carry unconscious bias, and need constant vigilance to prevent that bias from influencing their actions in unjust ways. We also recognize that human systems (in science and beyond) are arranged in ways that provide different groups with structural advantages and disadvantages, and we believe that it is a human responsibility to counteract these structural inequalities whenever possible.

In addition, we endorse the Washington University School of Medicine diversity statement: https://medicine.wustl.edu/about/mission/#diversity-statement