OncoDaily Walk and Talk with Philip Philip and Celine Philip, Hosted by Tatev Margaryan

We continue to Walk & Talk with world-renowned oncologists, and today, our guests were Dr Philip Philip with his daughter Celene.

Philip A. Philip, M.D., Ph.D., is the Director of the Gastrointestinal Oncology, Co-Director of the Pancreatic Cancer Center and Medical Director of the Research and Clinical Care Integration at the Henry Ford Cancer Institute. Dr. Philip joined the Henry Ford Cancer Institute from the Karmanos Cancer Institute, where he served in multiple leadership positions over 25 years. He continues to serve as a tenured Professor of Oncology at Wayne State University of Medicine.

He is an internationally renowned medical oncologist specializing in gastrointestinal cancers. He has led numerous breakthroughs in the areas of pancreatic and neuroendocrine tumors.

Dr. Philip’s extensive influence in various national and international arenas includes chairing the GI committee for SWOG (the NCI-sponsored clinical trials collaborative), serving on the NCI’s Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program committee, authoring more than 200 publications, co-editing a book on pancreatic cancer and serving as an international/national lecturer with more than 400 presentations.

Watch the interview to learn the life and career story of Dr. Philip and his beautiful conversation with his daughter.

Hosted by Tatevik Margaryan.

P.S. Celene is also a social media ambassador of OncoDaily.

Follow the transcript below

Tatev Margaryan: Hello and welcome everyone to Walk and Talk on Onco Daily. Today our guests are Doctor Phillip and Celine. Can you please introduce yourselves? Both of you, please.

Philip Philip: So I’m a medical oncologist. I specialize in gastrointestinal and neuroendocrine tumors. And I practice in Detroit, Michigan. I work at Henry Ford Hospital, and I’m also a professor at Wayne State University. And I’ve been doing this for over three decades.

Celine Philip: And I’m Celine. Um, I just graduated from the University of Michigan in April. Um, I’ve been in Armenia for a few months now, volunteering. Um, and I’ve gotten to meet Datev through volunteering, which has been really lovely. Um, and we are going back home tomorrow to Michigan, so that’s kind of sad, but, um, yeah, we’ve had a wonderful time here.

Tatev Margaryan: Yeah, we’ll be missing you, but today’s interview is going to be, uh, an interesting memory we’re going to create together. So despite the weather, if you don’t mind, we’re going to take a walk.

Both: Yes.

Tatev Margaryan: So I want to ask a couple of questions for both of you. So think throughout before answering. So the first question is, what are some of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned from each other?

Philip Philip: Um, so basically I, I learned a lot of things from Celine. She’s, uh, she’s very kind. She’s, uh she treats people very well. And it just brings me back to my patients and how I have to treat everyone the same. Um, she’s, uh. Uh, she really has shown that she’s even more Armenian than I am. She’s very much interested in Armenia and Armenians. And, uh, this is the reason why I’m here today. Because maybe I wouldn’t have come if she wasn’t here so very much, uh, like her love for the community. Uh, but also, she’s very hardworking. She focuses on things. She’s very focused, which is one of the important things for people to succeed.

But overall, I think, uh, her being the younger of the two daughters I had, it really brought my life a lot of joy, a lot of happiness. Uh, she’s, uh, she’s really very smart. She. Her older daughter says she’s underrated because she is really very funny. But people maybe don’t recognize that. But she’s really. So she all the all the balanced characters and, uh, she, uh, she’s also a very loyal to her friends, which is a great point to make. Um, she doesn’t feel that she’s above others, which is, to me, a very important point. Um, she doesn’t really, uh, pay attention to anything like privilege or whatever. She’s so very simple. She likes the people she likes, especially the Armenian people. She’s been very kind to them, and she appreciates them very much.

Tatev Margaryan: It’s so nice, I think Celine would appreciate everything that you said. What about you, Celine?

Celine Philip: I would say some of the nice things my dad just said. Probably also turn back from or stem from things he has taught me as well. Like about, um, treating my friends oil. I would say, like, I’ve always learned from my dad, you can’t look at how much money someone has or what they do for a living. It’s how they treat you and how you treat them that’s more important, um, and how they make you feel most of all. So I try to keep that in mind. And it’s been especially, um, nice being here to kind of just put so many things aside that were kind of, um, we see at home and just kind of focus on someone’s identity internally, which is how they’re, how Armenian they are and how respectful they are.

And also, uh, I’ve learned the value of hard work and that sacrifice, um, is necessary sometimes to get to where you want to go. Um, and because I’m, I want to pursue a career in healthcare as well, I definitely know first hand it takes a lot of work and sacrifice, but it can be very fulfilling. And though it can be hard, I’ve learned from my dad that it definitely is worth it because you’re making a difference. And, um, sometimes that just you have to put more of yourself into your work, but if it’s something you are passionate about, then it’s worth it. Um, and I think lastly, I thought one of the reasons I wanted to come to Armenia, um, it’s my second time, but second time that I’m not here just as a tourist. I guess this time is more as a local living here, um, was because I grew up in such a great Armenian community.

At home, I was able to go to a day school dance group and, um, because of both my parents like choosing where to live and trying to teach me that it’s important to surround myself with like minded, culturally individuals, that it will be beneficial. And maybe at first I, um maybe I fought back sometimes, like, I don’t want to go to certain things at school or Sunday school, but it was worth it. So I think that’s a very valuable lesson to keep the Armenian ness rich, because there’s only so many of us, and it’s very important to spread that message to everyone and educate them. So those are a few things. Some of them that he said, um, are things that are from him. So it’s kind of like back and forth valuable lessons.

Tatev Margaryan: Thank you so much for that. Can you share a story about a challenge you faced together and how you supported each other through it?

Philip Philip: I can’t, I can’t think of one right off the top of my head. Um, um, except for like sometimes when my wife had to travel overseas for 2 or 3 weeks and then we had to survive on our own in the house, that would be a challenge.

But it’s a minor challenge. But overall, um, I think, um, uh, things have been good, uh, and I, and I can’t really think of, um, uh, major challenges that we had been through, but I’m sure life in the future may well have been challenges that we have to deal with. Um, certainly choosing a college, where to go, which college to go, going out of state or staying close to us. That was a challenge. And I think she truly understood that, uh, there was no real reason for her to go too many thousands of miles away to study when she can do it very closely. And, uh, that was one of the challenges, maybe, but we understood the reason why to do it the way it was done.

Tatev Margaryan: Okay. What about you, Celine? Do you have anything in mind?

Celine Philip: Um. Well, I would echo, like we haven’t had anything very major. Thankfully, we are very blessed. Um, that. I can’t think of anything very significant, but I think something that many people would relate to is me having to come home from my college dorm in 2020 was very challenging, because I had had a few months of freedom living from home and was just starting to make friends and have a good group, and then had to come home pretty suddenly in March.

So that was challenging at first because I had to adapt to living with my parents under the same roof again while navigating college classes, and then my bedroom is on top of my dad’s office, so he would have zooms and the volume is at like 100% volume, so it echoes through my floor. So we had to kind of figure out, like a good balance of everyone does their own thing during the day, and then at night we would watch TV. We went through a lot of shows. Um, so that was a bit challenging, just to kind of find new things to entertain our time with and, um, try to still stay somewhat independent. So we all didn’t kill each other. Um, but yeah, it’s not very it’s not a very, um, significant challenge that took, that was a lot of hardship on us. But there’s something that I think stands out a bit more.

Tatev Margaryan: Thank you so much for that, and I’m glad to hear that you have been supportive of each other and you’ve managed to overcome that challenge, especially during this covid pandemic, um, that’s been affecting everyone. So, thank you so much for sharing that. I agree, but, I do feel that how Doctor Philip said that life will bring some challenges in the future. So I think you should be ready for them. 

Philip Philip: Yeah, I think that’s life. I mean, there’s not a single person who is, uh, uh, exempt from facing or any family exempt from facing challenges. I mean, obviously the simplest thing is that being a doctor myself and I see lots of families having challenges at some point, whether it’s cancer, whether it’s heart disease or dementia, if I’m lucky to live long enough and I’m demented, that’s a challenge for the family. But life is such that you shouldn’t be thinking of.

It’s sitting here waiting for the challenge to come. If it comes, it kind of had to be ready for it, uh, because, um that’s one of the things about challenges is that, um, somehow you have to be, uh, not completely surprised by them, and you have to have had the mental status that this could have happened. This could happen. And, um, and this is why people, some people like us patients come to me and say, why? Why me? Why did it happen to me?

And some people just don’t take these things very easily. But I think overall we have to be. There are a lot of challenges. Earthquake is a challenge. The pandemic, the pandemic was a challenge. I mean, isn’t that going to happen again in pandemic Who knows? It may well happen again. We may have even an earthquake in, in where I live, around where I live, people here had earthquakes, I mean, you so things happen and, um, yeah, some of them are huge. Some of them are less huge, some of them are like the challenge you had in the pandemic. Easily manageable But it depends.

Tatev Margaryan: We should be ready for anything. Yeah. Thank you. So are there any hobbies that you share?

Philip Philip: Sharing hobbies hasn’t been that one of the things which I have to say, uh, apart from traveling, eating, uh watching movies, maybe, and, uh, uh, I don’t recall any, any hobbies that I would say, uh, but I really like coming here and being with Celine. It’s great because I think traveling is, uh. Although the roles have changed. When she was younger, I used to those days. I have a map, I drive, I have a GPS, and I’m leading the thing. Now she’s leading it.

She’s taking me around. So I think traveling is one of the things probably we both like, like a lot, um, exploring maybe restaurants is another thing we like Um, certainly watching, um, movies and shows, as she said about the pandemic. So there are a number of things that we do, I guess, call them hobbies. At some point I, I wanted to start tennis and we, I was thinking, hoping that that would be a hobby we can share.

But it didn’t work out that way, partly because of my I had an injury, I stopped playing, I stopped thinking of playing tennis, but she continued to play tennis. And she has other people she plays with. But apart from that, no, not not we don’t golf. Golf is a major hobby for some people in Michigan, in America, but we don’t do that. Um, I don’t cook myself, so I wish I got into the hobby of joining her because she likes, she likes making desserts. That’s her major, uh, I think hobby if I, if I’m not wrong. But she’s good at that. So these are the things that I can think of at this time.

Tatev Margaryan: Okay. What about you, Celine? Maybe something your dad forgot about.

Celine Philip: Yeah, I think he mostly summed it up. We both like to read, but kind of different genres. That’s a bit unfortunate. He likes more non-fiction, like historical books. I’m more of, like a fiction reader. Um or romance novels, that kind of thing. But, um, it’s nice to. 

Tatev Margaryan: I do understand that.

Celine Philip: Um, and then about tennis, I know it’s it’s a bit like, taxing, um, on the body to run around the court. So pickleball has become very popular in the US now. So hopefully in the summer, which is kind of far away now that it’s October already. Um, we can start maybe trying that, um, since it’s not as big of a court and, um, a lot of adults have been playing where we live. They have leagues, so I think we’ll try to do that. But yeah, I think he said everything else.

Tatev Margaryan: Well, time does fly, so it’s going to be summer when you blink your eyes. 

Celine Philip: Absolutely.

Philip Philip: Yeah. Well hope so, because living in Michigan, maybe even in Yerevan, it doesn’t come very quickly. Right?

Tatev Margaryan: Yeah. Yes. It doesn’t, unfortunately for the next question is what qualities do you admire? Mostly in each other.

Philip Philip: Um, so Celine is uh, is is a I personally think that she’s very well measured in terms of her, uh, personality when it comes to seriousness and fun. And, uh, she’s not the extreme of either. So she’s very well balanced. Um, her mind is always ready for a challenging situation pretty much most of the time. Not all the time, like all of us are not perfect. She’s again, as I mentioned earlier, she has very good, uh, uh, way of making friends. And looks like it’s more like quality friends rather than numbers. Like there are some people say I have millions of people I know, but, uh, it’s not the same as having few people who are quality friends.

So I think she does good in in that aspect. And she doesn’t. I don’t see her, uh, showing any prejudice against anybody because of their, you know, whatever it is, uh, she’s good with everyone, uh, and she treats people equally, but she. When but back to a her stage of her life. Her career. I think she’s really, um, she’s, well, focused. And, um, what she does, obviously, that’s her thing.

We haven’t pushed her to do anything like, uh, anything, actually, um, although she realizes that maybe healthcare, there is something about healthcare because of a number of reasons. Um, but she can be focused, and I think she can be successful. Um, she’s also one of those people who, uh, despite her young age, she tries to do things herself. She’s not really relying on us that much. And sometimes you may think that, oh, let’s let her use us more. But no, she does things very much independently. Um, like in the university, trying to find people to work with. And, uh, I mean, I could have helped it, like, very easily, but she, a lot of things she did was by herself.

Tatev Margaryan: It’s so nice. What about you, Celine?

Celine Philip: Um, I would say one of the first qualities that comes to mind is, um, like hard work but. And, um, doing everything very well and, um, being well connected with everyone and building great relationships with people that I think I’ve learned from my dad, um, building Long term relationships where you have people you have known for years and you still show them respect even if you don’t live near them. Calling and keeping in contact is very important.

And also, I think prioritization is another quality I admire. Um, even though my dad wears a lot of hats and does a lot of things for his job, like a lot of besides main work, other side like memberships or leadership positions um, he’ll always find like an email from an Armenian or from a student that really interests him. And he sends it to me and says, like, and I’ll say, well, are you going to respond? He’ll say, like, of course I already responded. So I like that.

Even though, um, he’s very busy, he still finds certain things like mentorship or a cultural connection that will be prioritized, and he wants to pay, um, special attention to them instead of just kind of ignoring the email or brushing them off, which, um, some people in his position may do just because of how busy he is. Um, and another quality I think that I like is that um, my dad is very like, well cultured and like, has a lot to say whenever we are meeting new people or at dinner.

He always knows how to keep the conversation going. And I think part of it comes from being able to travel a lot, which we’re both fortunate to have been able to do. Um, and just kind of always seeking out new information And he’s always looking at Wikipedia after every movie we watch, everywhere we go, especially here, we’ll go home from some excursion. He’s already on Wikipedia looking at something, and sometimes I don’t want to hear it. I’ll be like, okay, I don’t, I don’t need to know. Like, like that. This certain actress went to a British acting school.

Tatev Margaryan: All the details, right?

Celine Philip: Yeah But I’ll take it. So I think being inquisitive is a really cool quality I admire, um, not even just in his field, but in other aspects as well. So that’s really nice.

Tatev Margaryan: I think being detailed in everything that you do is, uh, a quality that you both share. That’s what I’ve analyzed so far.

Philip Philip: Yeah, I was excited. I met one of the Armenian people. He lives in America, and he’s, uh, partnered with someone, I think, from Lebanon who is here to make shoes. Shoe factory. And we had a shoe factory ourselves, my family and I was so interested to see how their shoes are made now, anything different. And that was interesting. Okay.

Tatev Margaryan: How do you support each other’s goals and dreams?

Philip Philip: Well, I personally, um, um, as I said, I mean, we didn’t push Celine to do anything in particular. Um, her interest in health matters or medicine or science was, was slowly, uh, appearing because of a number of things, she says, a number of things she does, uh, one of the one of the things which I was surprised when she was even younger, like five, six years younger than now, uh, or even, I don’t know, when it was she was watching, uh, a TV show, which is every, I don’t know, every week or whenever that they show about plastic surgery, what plastic surgeons can do. And I was like, wow, this kid, why is she so interested in plastic surgery?

And I was surprised. I was surprised to see that over the last couple of years, whenever I open, like a medical topic, she does know something about it. So. So for that reason, I really thought that I have to support her as much as I can. Um, uh, for her to choose a career in health care could be medicine, being a doctor or or what? Whatever she wants to do. Uh, and I’m me trying to support her because I think that’s something which she and I kept on pushing more information on her.

There’s a there’s a very famous journal called New England Journal of Medicine, and, uh, they started two years ago in the first, uh, five, 4 or 5 pages to put things about more like general policy on health and, and things like that, which really I thought I so I cut those pages and give it to her and she will choose to read or not is up to her. But they touch a lot of things, uh, various things, including, for example, financial toxicity, the issue of the cost of medications and all that.

And so I’m trying to do that and certainly whatever health help she needs to be lined up with people who, if she needs help to work with people, I can easily work on that. So that’s something which but at the same time, I also want her to be well balanced. I don’t want her to be only studying and science and medicine. I want her to be a good citizen. I want to be balanced in other things.

She does, uh, socially, friends, uh, hobbies, uh, you know, physical fitness, whatever you want to call it. And I also want to encourage you to continue doing those things and not only focus on one thing, which is medicine. And certainly her involvement with the church and the Armenian community. My wife and I, we have really encouraged her all the time to continue doing it. And we always appreciate the fact that she does it. Unfortunately, not many kids do it and some do it, but not as much as she does because she may need to be a role model for others. Uh you know, the younger people who are growing up in, in our community or elsewhere.

Tatev Margaryan: So what about you, Celine? How do you support your dad’s dreams?

Celine Philip: Um, well, I think besides professional goals, which, um, I wasn’t really around for most, most of those goals, um, I think one dream I believe my dad had was to come here. Or maybe I mostly coerced him. As he said earlier, he maybe wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t for me.

Tatev Margaryan: Well, here we are, right?

Celine Philip: Yeah, I think reversing the roles sometimes is a way of supporting dreams and kind of being the one to encourage and push and not just waiting for things to happen Um, so this trip, for example, I kind of told him in my, in my mom, like, you guys should come. It’s a very unique opportunity. I’ll have met some people and we can kind of go around to some hidden gems here.

So it was nice to kind of be someone to push and and take initiative and and make things happen and organize Um, and then besides that, um, yeah, I think, I guess in his way of trying to support my dreams and pushing more health care information on me, I think it’s important to respond to it and show enthusiasm as much as I can to maybe support it.

Not his dream of me being a doctor, but support his dream of me knowing about a topic and not kind of doing something haphazardly, but having more knowledge in one field and, um, being able to talk about it with people. And it’s kind of like a test run if he’s kind of testing me about a topic and it’ll give me a better advantage in the future to do the same types of things with people and be inquisitive. So, um, I think just kind of showing enthusiasm and being a good listener will also, like, support his dreams of what he wants from me. Um, and to be successful and maintain good professional and personal relationships.

Tatev Margaryan: So supporting him, supporting you. Yeah. That’s the goal.

Celine Philip: Yes, I yeah, I can’t think of that many other things right now, but I feel like that comes to mind like based on what he said.

Tatev Margaryan: So okay. Perfect. So maybe the last question for today, is there a particular memory or experience that you cherish The most as a father and as a daughter of course?

Philip Philip: Well, I think, uh, Celine being born, that’s that was the major thing. Uh, that was, uh, for us, it was, uh, a real, uh, game changer or life changer, but one of the memories that I will always, uh, a number of them, um, I’ve been on, uh, trips with her, for example, to New York. I went one time, and we arrived, and she was still very young, and she had already made a list of things she wants to do, and one of them was to go to a shop called, um, American Girl. And we went inside and she had a list and she went bum, bum, bum. And she got everything, and she carried the things and went back to the hotel and then went out again to dinner.

And we spent, I think, 2 or 3 nights in New York. That was one of the nicest trips we had. Uh, father and daughter We also did a trip to Washington, DC, and we spent time together at restaurants. And, uh, so those were very, uh, really nice memories that, uh, uh, I think those trips, but certainly the memories when she was in the school, in the school, like standing there with others and singing and Armenian and those things I will always remember they were very touchy, very important.

And that put her I think that’s the beginning of her being involved in things that, um, so a number of things. But obviously one of the biggest memories for me will continue is this trip. Because coming here, seeing her here, seeing how much she is enjoying it, how much she is engaged with the people and all these things, really, I think that was, uh, a great thing. It was as much as me coming here and seeing Armenia was to see her, how she fit into Armenia And my wife and I were both shocked to see her, uh, speak not only fluent Armenian, but speaking the eastern dialect. And I was like, how did that happen in a short time?

So a lot of memories and, uh, you know, traveling together, doing things, uh, even even the pandemic as bad as it was. Um, if you know that a lot of people got the benefit of having families together. So those were memorable evenings. I, I’m usually I sleep at night, like at 8:00 or 9:00 or 10:00. I was staying like 11, 12 or watching TV with, with the, with Celine and my wife. So those were bad days. But at the same time, they were good days because as family, we spent much more time together.

Tatev Margaryan: Well good opportunity in a bad time.

Philip Philip: Yeah. Exactly. Yes. Yeah.

Tatev Margaryan: What about you, Celine?

Celine Philip: I would say the trips are definitely a good memory. Um, just being able to experience new places, um, at such a young age was a really nice blessing. Um, and being able to do it with, um, someone that knew how to travel. Well, and I’ve been using those like that advice and that experience, um, to help plan, um, when I’m with my parents now being older and also this trip I think has been a really great memory, um, being able to see some of the places in Armenia for the first time through someone’s, through my dad’s eyes that hasn’t ever been here.

And having only heard about it and maybe having an image of what you think Armenia is, but coming here and being able to introduce my host mom to my parents was really nice, because I lived with her for six weeks, and it might not seem like too long of a time, but we were together a lot, and it was the third biggest city in Armenia, which is still not very big and population.

So I think it was really nice to be able to introduce them to her because we got close and also showing them my Armenian skills was very shocking. So that was also a nice memory. Um, to prove to them that I do remember the language, even though I don’t maybe don’t use it a lot at home. Being in America, I think that’s been a really nice memory. Um, and then I think I remember sometimes, like, having to go to the clinic where my dad used to work, um, because he always.

He’s also a very forgetful person. So forgetting pager, wallet, phone, laptop. So my mom would take me, and then I would have to get out of the car. She’ll say, like, you just go like, give it to someone at the front. And then they would all, like, freak out when they saw me. They’re all really nice, like ladies that work at the front. So. And they, they all already knew who I was before I even came in or said who I was looking for. So that was really nice. Um, because it made me realize, like, he’s a very well respected person at work, and not just because he has to be or because people are scared of him, but because he treats everyone with respect and does good for people. So that’s a really nice group of memories that I have.

Tatev Margaryan: Thank you so much. I think this was so far the most heartwarming interview that we had. It was an honor and a pleasure to interview both of you. Thank you so much. 

Both: Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Tatev Margaryan: You were watching Walk and Talk on OncoDaily with Doctor Phillip Phillip and his daughter Celine. Thank you so much for watching. See you next time.

Previous episodes of OncoDaily Walk and Talk with Tatev Margaryan

Episode 1: Yelena Janjigian

Episode 2: John Gore