The Center for Sustainable Medicine was created to:
- Educate the public and scientific community about the need for sustainable and ecologically sound forms of medicine.
- Help preserve indigenous medicinal plants and knowledge for future generations.
- Create dialogue between practitioners, thinkers, and visionaries in the fields of Medicine, Alternative Healing, and Environmental Studies
- Support the worldwide development of clinics and hospitals providing sustainable healthcare
Didi Pershouse: Director
Didi Pershouse is well known as a health-care provider in the Upper Valley, with over fifteen years experience treating patients with gentle and respectful care. In 2006 she started The Center for Sustainable Medicine, to bring together the best minds in the fields of ecology, medicine, and sustainability to create a new model of healthcare.
She received her B.A. in Asian Studies from Barnard College in New York City, and did extensive coursework in Jungian approaches to dreamwork at the Institute for Depth Psychology in Rye, New York.
She obtained her license in Acupuncture after completing four years of training in Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine at the Northwest Institute for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, and the New England School of Acupuncture. She did postgraduate studies with both blind and sighted teachers of Toyohari, a gentle form of acupuncture developed by blind practitioners in Japan.
Didi went on to study Homeopathic Medicine at the Homeopathic Academy of Northern New England and with Dr. Jayesh Shah and Dr. Rajan Sankaran. She participates in case-analysis and study groups with some of the world’s most innovative and experienced doctors of Homeopathy, and is co-author of the latest textbook on homeopathy: “Vital Expression, A Workbook on Homeopathic Casetaking.” (Inner Health Publications). She is nationally certified as a classical homeopath by the Council for Homeopathic Certification.
She has traveled and taught as a senior instructor for the Toyohari Association, has taught Anatomy at Bastyr College of Naturopathic Medicine, and teaches classes in Alternative Medicine in the Upper Valley. She was the founder and director of the Two Rivers Clinic, and now maintains a private practice in Classical Homeopathy, Acupuncture and Health Counseling.
She is the mother of two young boys.
Marisa Hebb: Apprentice
Marisa is delighted to be joining the Center for Sustainable Medicine to pursue her long-time interest in the healing arts and healthy living. She has been working during the summers on a local sustainable-practice vegetable farm since 2000 and is helping to develop the local foods network as a founding member and treasurer of the Pompanoosuc Agricultural Society. She is looking forward to deepening the Center’s philosophy of food as preventative and curative medicine, by helping both in the garden and in the kitchen, as well as educating patients about finding, growing, and cooking local healthy meals. She also brings her skill as a Reiki practitioner into the clinical setting.
Marisa graduated from Bard College with a BA in Asian Studies (which included eight months of study and research in China) and a minor in Dance. During her off-hours, she tutors Chinese Language at The Mountain School and teaches social dances including Swing, Argentine Tango and Salsa as well as Capoeira, a Brazilian dance form/martial art.
Dale Gephart: Advisory Board
Dale Gephart MD, is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor of Community and Family Medicine at Dartmouth Medical School. He has taught in several courses, mainly as a problem-based small-group tutor, since 1973. He developed a fascination with the medicinal use of plants while studying with renowned ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes at Harvard. Dr. Gephart went on to teach medical botany at Dartmouth Medical School, Dartmouth College and ILEAD, and led seven trips up the Rio Negro in Amazonia teaching rainforest ecology and the uses of amazonian plants. From 1972 to 2005 Dr. Gephart had a Primary Care, Internal Medicine and Geriatrics practice in Windsor, VT. He also taught and worked as a physician in Sudan in 1988, in Kerala in 1992 and in Kosovo in 2006.