I am originally from Wisconsin, though I grew up without the usual education in deer hunting or American football.

During my undergraduate career at the UW-Madison, I traveled to England for a year to finish my psychology degree. After which time I was bitten by a travel bug that led me to teach in South and Central America where I taught English to children and decided on a career in medicine.

I moved back to the US, studied Buddhism and began my journey to medicine at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, OR. I studied there for two years before deciding that I wanted to gain the knowledge and credentials of an MD physician.

I moved to the island nation of Dominica and attended Ross University, where I split my first two years between Dominica and Grand Bahama.

Along the path of years 3 and 4 in med school, I completed clerkships all over the United States, including a year in Danbury, CT, where I came to know UVM through its medical students. I also did clerkships at the Mayo Clinic for child psychiatry and with Patch Adams on his farm in West Virginia.

I finished my educational journey in Vermont where I found love and made a family. Then moved back to my home state of Wisconsin for my first job as an attending psychiatrist and first real taste of working high volume care as a conventional board certified psychiatrist.

I then made the leap to study psychedelics in mental health. I completed training in using ketamine therapy and started the MAPS MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy training program in Colorado. Although FDA approvals for psychedelics have been lagging, it remains a professional interest of mine and I am hopeful that the future of mental health care can be better informed by the research which continues to be done.

Since 2020 I have worked in private practice and as a contractor doing telemedicine across the country. I collaborate with independent practices owned by physician assistants. I have recently transitioned to working remotely as an inpatient psychiatrist at the Brattleboro Retreat.  

I bring all of this education into the room with me when I meet with clients and try to discover the best way to help them move forward from their starting point. I do my best to meet people where they are coming from and promote positive change.

May we all thrive,

Dustin Dippen, MD