He went to London in 1952 after completing a science degree at the University College of the Gold Coast (now the University of Ghana) to attend medical school at the London Hospital on a government scholarship.
In 1954, he won a scholarship from the hospital to undertake additional study and was awarded a B.Sc in Physiology in 1955.
[3] He was graduated M.B, B.S in 1958 and was awarded his Ph.D. in Physiology from Queens University in Kingston, Ontario in Canada in 1972.
Phillips was recruited by the Government of Ghana while undergoing post graduate studies in medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia, USA to help establish and lead the Physiology department of the fledgling University of Ghana Medical School in Accra.
[8] One of his brothers was J. V. L. Phillips who was the chairman of Volta Aluminium Company, and was an uncle of Hugh Quarshie.