Professor Phelps has over 2 decades of emergency response experience, working as a paramedic and paramedic instructor in both New York City and throughout the metropolitan area, and has formerly served as Assistant Commissioner for Emergency Management at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, as a hospital emergency manager, and as a professor of emergency medicine at George Washington University School of Medicine.

Professor Phelps has a Juris Doctor degree from Brooklyn Law School, a Master's in Public Health in policy and administration from Yale Medical School (where he was both a Farr Scholar and a Schlesinger Fellow for public service), and a Bachelor's in Anthropology with honors from Columbia University.

Professor Phelps is a Certified Emergency Manager, a Certified Business Continuity Professional, and a FEMA Master Exercise Practitioner. He serves on the IAEM CEM Commission, the DRII Education Commission, and is a special consultant for the China Business Continuity Management Professional Committee. He is also an approved Fulbright Senior Scholar candidate.