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Author Philip Eil to Speak in Providence
Author / journalist Philip Eil will discuss his debut book, Prescription for Pain: How A Once-Promising Doctor Became the “Pill Mill Killer.” The event will take place on Thursday, June 26, 2025, at 7 p.m. at Central Congregational Church in Providence (296 Angell Street / www.centralchurch.us). The evening will conclude with a question-and-answer forum open to the audience and book signing. The event is free and open to the public.
Prescription for Pain: How A Once Promising Doctor Became the “Pill Mill Killer” is a true crime investigation of Paul Volkman, who is serving the opioid epidemic’s longest term for illegal prescriptions. The book follows Eil’s twelve-year investigation into Volkman – a former classmate of his father – who once seemed destined for greatness after earning his M.D. and Ph.D. from the prestigious University of Chicago. Instead, Volkman became the central figure in a massive “pill mill” scheme in southern Ohio, linked to the overdose deaths of 13 patients and possibly more.
The Columbus Dispatch called Prescription for Pain a “riveting true-crime page-turner.” And BookPage wrote, “With Prescription for Pain, Eil joins the ranks of investigative journalists like Sam Quinones (Dreamland), Patrick Radden Keefe (Empire of Pain) and Beth Macy (Dopesick), adding a crucial piece of the puzzle to understanding an epidemic that continues to arrest the nation.”
Philip Eil is a freelance journalist based in Providence. He was the news editor and staff writer at the alt-weekly Providence Phoenix until the paper closed in 2014. Since then, he's contributed to The Atlantic, Boston Magazine, Huffington Post, Men’s Health, The Nation, and VICE, among other media outlets. Previously, he has taught in the Literary Arts + Studies department at the Rhode Island School of Design, Brown University, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and Columbia University’s graduate writing program.
For more information, call 401-331-1960 or log on to www.centralchurch.us.
Event Links
Website: https://go.evvnt.com/3118833-0
