Dr. Rima Carlson received her BA in Biology, concentrating in Cellular and Molecular Biology and Biochemistry with a minor in Mathematics at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. She graduated Cum Laude with distinction in her major. Additionally, she was the Peter Letterman Biological Scholar and earned the Cross Country Running Coaches Award.

She was awarded her MD at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. There she was named the Lambaréné Albert Schweitzer Fellow, and received the Edward E. Friedman Award for promise of excellence in Family Medicine and the Kerzner Family Prize for service to the community.

Dr. Carlson completed the Marquette Family Medicine Residency Program at Marquette Hospital in Michigan.

She was an AmeriCorps/VISTA Volunteer for the HealthReach Network in Waterville, Maine, working with six federally accredited rural health centers to enhance community health education programs.

She also served as a Health Education/Water Sanitation Peace Corps Volunteer in the Republic of the Congo where Dr. Carlson taught health education in French in the schools and at the local hospital.

She was most recently a Family Practice Physician with the Portage Health System in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. There she practiced inpatient and outpatient medicine with four partners in a busy Family Practice clinic.

“I knew I wanted to be in Vermont. I did a rotation with Dr. Cook while in medical school so I knew a bit about CVMC and Montpelier. The size of the community really appealed to me. CVMC and Montpelier fit the things I was looking for in a community and in a job.”