Nature Adirondack chairs on lake sunset
We are committed to training compassionate psychiatrists who practice inclusive and equitable patient- and family-centered care that meets the needs of diverse, underserved, and rural communities and holistically considers (and critically examines) the dynamic biological, social, psychological, and structural factors that contribute to mental health and illness across the lifespan.

Our Psychiatry Residency Program designates two of our six positions as integrated child track positions in which years four and five are spent in our child fellowship program. Core training takes place in academic adult general inpatient and outpatient settings with additional rotations in community mental health, Veterans Administration settings, and in local primary care practices. Residents take pride in their role of teacher for medical students, other teammates, and community-members; opportunities are ample for residents to enhance their skills as educators. 

Our location in Vermont gives residents exposure to rural populations, practicing in under-resourced areas, and to academic medicine that is strongly community-focused and centered around advocacy and belonging.  UVM Medical Center is in the progressive college town of Burlington, Vermont.  Our patients, like the rest of Northern New England, are primarily non-Hispanic White and represent a wide range of socioeconomic and geographic diversity.  Burlington has been a site for refugee resettlement for over twenty-years and the greater Burlington area is home to a vibrant immigrant community.  Additionally, while one the least populated states, Vermont has the seventh-highest population of LGBTQ people in the nation. Queer diversity is celebrated and Vermont is one of the first states that has legislatively codified protections for those providing and receiving gender-affirming care.  Additionally, further illustrating Vermont’s commitment to health equity, the Green Mountain State has taken steps legislatively to protect reproductive rights.

Message from the Director

Welcome and thank you for your interest in our wonderful Vermont program!  After growing up in a small rural town in Central New York, and attending college and medical school in New York, I fell in love with the Burlington area when I first interviewed for residency in the fall of 2004.  I had the privilege of completing my adult and child psychiatry training here at UVM and in 2011 took a faculty position within the department.   My wife (also a psychiatrist), my twin children, and two dogs love spending time on the shores of Lake Champlain and we all look forward to welcoming you into UVM’s psychiatry family.

Clinically, my work centers on providing team-based autism diagnostic evaluations, supporting gender-diverse youth, and seeing patients of all ages in the outpatient setting.   For the past handful of years, I was the director of Medical Student Education in our department, overseeing the six-week psychiatry clerkship and facilitating other psychiatry-related teaching across the College of Medicine curriculum.  In 2021, I was offered the position of Associate Training Director and in July 2022, officially took on the role of Program Director.  It’s an exciting endeavor to be in a leadership position in a program that was so influential for my professional and personal development.   My training at UVM was undeniably formative in fostering my clinical and academic interests while allowing me to build collaborative relationships within the Medical Center, the Larner College of Medicine, the broader University, and throughout Vermont.   

Academically, I also love teaching and am energized by channeling my creativity and passion to create undergraduate courses focusing on the neuroscience of relationships and psychiatry’s association with pop culture. I’ve also developed a medical student elective centered on Graphic Medicine and am eager to find different ways to incorporate the humanities in medical education.

I have such pride in our program and our department, and I am eager to help instill this pride in our trainees in a manner that appreciates shifting perspectives around mental health, illness, and wellness  - perspectives that are embedded in larger cultural and systemic contexts and attend to the psychological, social, and spiritual complexities that define our humanity. 

Jeremiah Dickerson MD headshot 2024
Jeremiah Dickerson, MD
Program Director, Psychiatry Residency Program
Assistant Professor, Psychiatry
Psychiatrist & Child Psychiatrist

Message from the Program Administrator

We are excited about our residency program and the people in it!  I grew up in New Jersey and left many years ago to explore and work. I have lived in Quebec, British Columbia, and have been in Vermont for many years. I have been in this role for over 23 years while continuing college part time while raising my kids.  Many of our faculty stay including our current PD and Chair who were once one of my residents!  I thoroughly love our program, our residents, and faculty who continue to be supportive and genuine. I invest in our program and residents by meeting applicants individually in order to get to know them and stay connected. I met my husband in Vermont, and we have a teen in high school, another in college, and a silly basset hound/terrier. I enjoy walking, hiking, music, and enjoying our community.  I look forward to meeting with applicants and allowing you to get a clearer picture of what it would be like to work, play and live here in Vermont.

Michele Peliel headshot
Michele Peliel
GME Program Administrator, Psychiatry

Psychiatry Residency Program

Why Choose GME at the UVM Medical Center

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About GME

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Lake Champlain at sunset

Life in Vermont

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