Louis C. Tripoli, MD

Advisor/Consultant in Health Strategy and Operations

Rear Admiral (retired) Louis Tripoli’s four-decade career as an energetic medical leader has placed him in some of the most challenging medical environments imaginable, a choice he made early in his professional journey. The capstone of this career to date has been his service as the Command Surgeon for US Indo-Pacific Command, reporting directly to the 4-star Commander and responsible for a vast set of medical and health programs across more than half of the world’s surface – from the west coast of the US to the west coast of India and from the Arctic to the Antarctic. The coronavirus pandemic elevated his medical department to the primary military force protection effort in the theater. He retired from this position on October 2020 as a Rear Admiral after forming lasting relationships within the US government and in many partner nations.

In the military, he formed bonds with the medical leaders in Iraq, treated Marines on the battlefield and soldiers and sailors in the hospital, was the principal liaison to the medical leadership in Germany, led medical operations at Navy Personnel Command to ensure that service members returning from war received the best of care possible, fought the coronavirus pandemic, and devised programs for medical care in the Pacific Islands. As a civilian, he has served the medically vulnerable in inner city Buffalo and St. Louis, led a company that provided healthcare for inmates, including guidance for treating HIV and Hepatitis C, created and patented innovative programs for medication safety, and held the position of Chief Medical Officer at several prominent healthcare organizations.

He has earned numerous substantial medals and decorations, including the Bronze Star for his work in combat with the Marines, the Defense Superior Service Medal and two Legions of Merit, but the ones he cherishes the most are those from the exceptional soldiers he served with, such as the Navy Times Sailor of the Year and an engraved Navy Chief’s cutlass. He always has time to help a service member or veteran with any challenge.

Tripoli, who attended Harvard as an undergraduate and received his doctorate in medicine (M.D.) from the University of Pittsburgh, recently became the recipient of the Vice Admiral John T. Hayward Award from the Naval War College for excellence in Joint Professional Military Education.

He has remained a practicing physician since medical school, maintains board certification in Internal Medicine, and takes pride in being a sought-after mentor by students and resident physicians, with several faculty positions accompanying his various roles, including Johns Hopkins, St. Louis University, and the University of Pittsburgh in the past and his most recent faculty appointment at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He has significant training and experience in pandemic and emerging infectious diseases. Currently, he takes care of patients and mentors trainees at Tripler Army Medical Center, performs research on COVID-19, works with University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine on telehealth in the Pacific region. Since his retirement from military service on October 1, 2020, Dr. Tripoli continues to work on bringing telehealth to the Pacific Islands and has recently founded a Veteran-owned consulting company. He continues to collaborate with the Johns Hopkins Center for Biosecurity in their Multilateral Biosecurity Dialogue forum and advises USU’s Indo-Pacific Research Alliance for Military Medicine.

He is a nationally recognized expert on COVID-19 risk mitigation.