PHILLIP STEPHENS is a fifth-degree black belt in Ketsugo Do jujutsu. He won the world championship in the self-defense division at the 2002 Sport Karate Amateur International (SKIL) World Championships held in Panama City, Florida. He was the silver medalist in the National Blackbelt League (NBL) self-defense division during the 2003 World Championships held in Houston, Texas, after a perfect season of ten first-place wins on the East Coast. He also holds numerous regional and state titles, all in the self-defense divisions of martial arts tournaments sanctioned by the Martial Arts Tournament Tour, SKIL, and NBL organizations.

In 2013, Stephens was appointed to the North Carolina Boxing Commission, which regulates combat sports including boxing and mixed martial arts, where he serves as a commissioner. One of the first chairmen of this commission was former boxing heavyweight world champion James “Bonecrusher” Smith.

Stephens has a doctorate of health science and has practiced emergency medicine as a physician’s assistant since 1990. He has served as an adjunct faculty member at several medical schools, including A. T. Still University, where he has taught topics such as research methodology and evidencebased medicine.

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