Ellyn C. Phillips

Ellyn Phillips was referred by The Greater Philadelphia Chapter and nominated by the Board Development and Nominating Committee.  In prior years Ms. Phillips was a member of The ALS Association National Board of Trustees.  Ms Phillips and The ALS Association go way back, 1986 to be exact, when she joined her father, Morton Charlestein, as a member of The ALS Association Board of Trustees. Phillips was in the first class of Chapter-elected trustees. She became involved in the fight against ALS four years earlier when her 34-year-old husband, Alan, was diagnosed with the disease. She became president of The ALS Association Greater Philadelphia Chapter in 1984.   That same year her mother, the indomitable Malvina Charlestein, convinced the Philadelphia Phillies that ‘ALS belongs in baseball.  Thus, began a partnership that remains today.

The boundless energy of Phillips and her stalwart leadership qualities continue to navigate The Association to new progressive frontiers benefiting people with ALS and their families everywhere. 

“I hope that my efforts will one day result in sparing others the tragedy that my family and I have endured,” said Phillips, who also created the The Association's Advocacy Committee and established the ALS Association Drug Company working group.

Phillips still is the president of the The Association's Greater Philadelphia Chapter and Board chair of its Board of Overseers. She also serves on the advisory board of the Farber Institute of Neurosciences at Thomas Jefferson University, and served on the FDA Peripheral and Central Nervous System advisory committee and NINDS Council.  She currently sits on the Department of Defense’s ALS research program as the consumer advocate.

“I am proud to be a member of The Association because we are all working together in support of our mission, to improve the quality of life of people suffering from ALS,” said Phillips. “When my husband was first diagnosed, we felt alone. There is strength in numbers.”

Despite her hectic schedule, Phillips still manages to get away occasionally to pursue such interests as reading − she is a former reading teacher − nature walks, hikes, traveling, listening to classical music and following the Philadelphia Phillies. In fact, it was Phillips who introduced two of The Association’s most prolific fundraisers to the organization, Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling and his wife, Shonda.

Phillips, born in Philadelphia, Penn., attended George Washington University, where she earned a BA, and the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned an MS.

When asked what she is most proud of in life, she said: “Being the mother of my wonderful daughter Amy.”