She was the first graduate of the Army School of Nursing to serve as superintendent and the first to complete the statutory four-year term.
That year she became Principal Chief Nurse at Fort Devens, Massachusetts and later served in the same post at Camp Shanks in New York.
During World War II, she served as the First Assistant to the Superintendent, Army Nurse Corps.
Under her tenure as Chief, the Army Nursing Corps was exempted from the Army-wide requirement that all commissioned officers hold or achieve baccalaureate degrees.
Colonel Phillips set the goal for its officers to complete an accredited program leading to an undergraduate degree, preferably in nursing.