While the leadership positions and other responsibilities she has achieved are impressive, perhaps the most important achievement for Doctor Miller is the impact she has had on the lives of so many patients and therefore their families. Her clinical ability and pragmatic, realistic evaluations of patients and their problems have always been impressive. In addition, her personal relationship with and caring for those patients was and is unusually dedicated. She doesn’t just know and understand their health problems; she knows them as a person.

Phyllis Miller, M.D., has been a trailblazer for women in medicine. The number of firsts she has achieved—including first woman president of the Chattanooga Hamilton County Medical Society, first woman chief of staff at Erlanger Medical Center, and first woman president of the Tennessee Medical Association—opened the doors for many other women to follow suit. She has proved that gender is not a determinant in doing an excellent job.