Dr. David J. Phillips is a rhinoplasty specialist in New York City. His practice is devoted to one operation, performed on one patient per day.
Credentials & Recognition
He is dually board-certified — by the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and the American Board of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery — and holds an appointment as Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine, where he also serves as Assistant Attending at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. He is a Castle Connolly Top Doctor, named among New York Magazine’s Best Doctors, and a frequent invited lecturer on rhinoplasty and facial aesthetics on the international circuit.
Art, Science, and Surgical Precision
Rhinoplasty is, in his words, the most technically challenging and humbling procedure in plastic surgery. It is an art, a science, and an operation that shapes how a person interacts with and enjoys the world around them. He chose to specialize because rhinoplasty, when performed without full dedication, produces a predictable set of patients: those who cannot breathe well, those who do not recognize themselves, and those whose second surgery should have been their first. The nose is a small but meaningful part of the body. It deserves an expert.
Where Expertise
Meets Discretion
A significant portion of the practice is revision rhinoplasty — patients who have been operated on elsewhere and are seeking, often with skepticism, a surgeon they can trust the second time.
Over the past decade, Dr. Phillips has quietly become the rhinoplasty surgeon of choice among a certain segment of New York, whose faces are recognized and whose privacy is non-negotiable. Those patients choose Dr. Phillips for the same reasons any patient does: the single-specialty focus, the time and attention of a bespoke practice, and an obsession with delivering results that look natural and last a lifetime. What patients consistently describe, more than any credential, is the quality of the conversation: honest and unhurried.
The Surgeon Behind the Practice
Training
Dr. Phillips graduated with honors from Washington University in St. Louis with a bachelor’s degree in Biology and Spanish. He received his medical degree from Weill Cornell Medical College, where he was awarded the Siegel Family Prize and the James A. Moore Scholarship for excellence in Head and Neck Surgery. His residency was completed across NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell, Columbia University Medical Center, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He served as Chief Resident and was honored with the Distinguished Housestaff Award, given to the top-performing resident annually. He then completed a selective fellowship in Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery with the Glasgold Group in Princeton, New Jersey — among the practices that helped define modern rhinoplasty and facial aesthetic surgery.
He is a member of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS) and the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS). He has contributed to the peer-reviewed literature on Facial Plastic Surgery and continues to publish and lecture.
Teaching
Over the past decade at Weill Cornell, Dr. Phillips has mentored and taught rhinoplasty to a generation of residents — many of whom are now practicing facial plastic surgeons and rising figures in the field. Teaching remains a deliberate part of his week.
Background
Dr. Phillips grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and was the first physician in his family. He speaks English, Spanish, and Italian. Outside of the practice, his life is spent with family and friends — dining out, traveling, and in the gym.
