Dr. Philippi currently works as Environmental Medicine consultant for the Environmental Programs Department at the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center, Portsmouth, Virginia.  He is part of a multi-disciplinary team composed of toxicologists, health risk assessors, and risk communicators who work closely with environmental engineers to address a wide variety of public health issues on Naval installations.  Dr. Philippi has been involved with many complex, highly visible, and highly charged environmental issues such as mold in housing, fuel spills, cancer cluster investigations, and recently Per and Poly Flouroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in drinking water.

Dr. Philippi served 24 years in the U.S. Navy as an Occupational Medicine physician and spent the first part of his career as a Diving and Submarine Medical Officer supporting operational forces throughout the world.  He retired from active duty as a Captain in 2018 while he was assigned as the Department Head for Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM) at the Navy Marine Corps Public Health Center (the equivalent of the CDC for the Navy).  There he supervised a team of audiologists, radiation health officers, and occupational health professionals who developed policy guidance and provided consultative services for the 87 Occupational Health clinics throughout the Navy.

From 2009 to 2012 Dr. Philippi served as the Force Medical Officer for Military Sealift Command (MSC) in Norfolk, Virginia. There he supervised a world-wide medical staff of 90 personnel and was responsible for managing the medical clearance programs and shipboard medical care for the 6,500 civilian mariners who operate the Navy’s 55 ship supply fleet.

From 2005 to 2009 Dr. Philippi worked as the Department Head for Occupational and Medicine at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Virginia. There he directed the occupational health services for over 25,000 federal workers in the Southeast Virginia region and was responsible for an Immunizations Division that delivered over 75,000 immunizations annually to active duty military, dependents, and retirees.

In October 2008, Dr. Philippi completed a one-year deployment as a Public Health Physician in northeast Africa. While there he supervised the planning and execution of five large Medical Civic Action Projects (MEDCAPs) that provided medical care and preventive health services to more than 14,000 people in five countries as part of Combined Joint Task Force, Horn of Africa.  Dr. Philippi worked previously at the Navy Marine Corps Public Health Center, under its former name, the Navy Environmental Health Center, from 2001 to 2005 as an Occupational Medicine physician where he was a subject matter expert and consultant for the Navy’s Occupational Health programs.

From 1995 to 2001, following completion of his Undersea Medical Officer training, he served as the Senior Medical Officer at Navy Special Warfare Group Two in Norfolk, Virginia.  While there he was instrumental in developing a sports medicine model for injury prevention and rehabilitation with Navy SEALS that has now been adopted by the entire military Special Operations community.

Captain Philippi is board certified in Occupational Medicine, Preventive Medicine, and Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine. He completed his residency training in Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the University of Arizona and is a graduate of the Des Moines College of Osteopathic Medicine in Iowa. Prior to his Navy commission in 1994 he worked as a Division I Collegiate Team Physician for six years at Iowa State University and has an added certificate of qualification in Primary Care Sports Medicine.