Meet Our Alumni

Philip Shen, Class of 2001, has made impressive career advancements upon graduating from Community High School. His career field is very intriguing, and also crucial to anyone using medical devices. Philip currently works at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in NYC as a Senior Security and Systems Analyst.

Philip spent many years at the Community School, entering the Lower School while in Group 1. Philip remembers all of his CHS memories fondly and recalls good times both in and out of the classroom.

Specifically, he holds his experiences with Photo Class with Sandy Butler close to his heart. He always enjoyed his time outside taking pictures and then developing his work. Philip continues to develop his passion for photography, but now, he uses drones for aerial photography. He does this regularly and also plays tennis in his spare time. He, also, of course, has great memories of his Computer classes which helped pave the way for his very successful career path.

He was also proud that he acted like a Computer class assistant while he was a junior and senior at CHS. Philip was a 9th grader when the Community High School in Westwood had the fire. It was a unique and memorable experience since “I was a part of one of the last classes in the Westwood building”.

Looking back on his elementary and high school education, Philip can attest that placement at Community High School was the right place for him. He truly appreciated the nurturing environment and his very supportive teachers. Maintaining organization and other executive functioning abilities was his biggest challenge, Philip relied on the help of his Study Skills teachers for support in high school. He also mentioned that working with his binder and color-coded tabs and folders was very helpful to him. When asked what advice he would give to our current CHS students, Philip stated, “Don’t be afraid to ask for help.”.

“Don’t be afraid to ask for help.”

In the fall of 2001, Philip journeyed off to the Rochester Institute of Technology where he studied Applied Networking and Systems Administration. He procured his first job at Albert Einstein College of Medicine as a Systems Administrator, a role in which he managed, maintained and supported of all of the online server systems in the network. He worked there for about 9 years and then moved on in 2016, to work at the University of Virginia School of Medicine as the Security Analyst, another role that pertained to computers but was more heavily focused on preserving the safety and security of the system servers.

By 2018, Philip decided to build upon his education and experience and pursue a Master's Degree in Cyber Security and Management & Policy at the University of Maryland Global Campus. It was during this time that he made another career move to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and his current position. Philip specializes in working with the security of medical devices. Philip stated that “This is very detail-oriented and meticulous work”. He takes pride in his work as it protects the patients because it can be very harmful to a patient if these Internet server-based devices were to be tampered with. For example, if a patient is using an infusion pump device, which delivers medication intravenously, the security team ensures that it is safely and securely connected to the server so that it cannot be hacked, which then protects the patient from adverse consequences. He also likes the experimental aspect of his job in that he participates in testing out new processes in the medical field that use these specific Internet servers.

Currently, Philip has begun his studies to receive his Doctoral degree in Cybersecurity at Marymount University. He continues his job at Memorial Sloan Kettering and enjoys his work thoroughly. His favorite part of the job is being able to problem-solve and work in the medical field while utilizing his very strong technology skills. He also takes pleasure in knowing that his profession plays a large role in keeping patients safe when they are receiving treatment with specific medical devices. Philip Shen is truly a CHS success story!