Dr. Richard Marasa, MD — Medical Director

At a Glance

46 Years of clinical medical practice (UMD School of Medicine, Class of 1980) · 23+ Years of personal recovery · 3 Board Certifications in Addiction Medicine, Emergency Medicine, and Internal Medicine · 7 Active State Licenses (NH, MA, VT, NY, DE, NJ, RI) · Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE)

Who Is Dr. Marasa?

Dr. Richard Marasa brings something to addiction medicine that credentials alone cannot convey: the combination of more than four decades of clinical expertise and over two decades of personal recovery. As Medical Director of Clear Steps Recovery, he leads a program built on the belief that recovery is not just possible — it is the expected outcome when people receive the right care.

His career spans emergency rooms, internal medicine practices, hospital leadership, and addiction treatment — a range that has given him a perspective most physicians in this field simply do not have. He has seen addiction from every angle: the patient who arrives in crisis at the emergency department, the one managing a chronic condition while quietly struggling with substance use, the one who has tried treatment before and needs to believe it can work this time.

Dr. Marasa knows it can work. He has lived it.

Clinical Background

Dr. Marasa graduated with honors from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1980 and completed residency training in Internal Medicine at both the University of Maryland Medical Center (1980-1982) and MedStar Health Georgetown University Hospital (1982-1983). He went on to build a career that spans the full breadth of clinical medicine — from emergency departments to internal medicine clinics to hospital executive leadership to addiction treatment.

At Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center in Windsor, Vermont — a Dartmouth Health affiliate — Dr. Marasa served as Medical Director of Emergency Services, President of the Medical Staff, and Emergency Room Director. He also served as a Trustee of the Windsor Hospital Corporation. At Springfield Hospital in Vermont, he held a similar leadership role in emergency medicine.

His commitment to the recovery community extends beyond his clinical practice. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Turning Point Recovery Center of Springfield, Vermont, and is a board member of the Vermont Physicians Health Program — an organization that supports physicians facing their own substance use challenges.

Dr. Marasa holds an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Lally School of Management. He is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE), a Certified Physician Executive through the American Association for Physician Leadership (AAPL), and a member of the American College of Physicians (ACP). He holds active medical licenses in seven states: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, Delaware, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.

The Recovery Perspective

What sets Dr. Marasa apart is something no medical school can teach. His 23 years of personal recovery give him a perspective that transforms clinical care. He does not speak about addiction in abstract terms — he understands it from the inside. This changes how he treats patients: with patience that goes beyond professional obligation, with empathy that comes from having been there, and with a certainty about recovery that only comes from living it.

In addiction treatment, trust between patient and physician is everything. When a patient sits across from Dr. Marasa and hears that he has been in recovery for over two decades, something shifts. The conversation changes. The resistance lowers. The possibility of recovery becomes real in a way that clinical facts alone cannot achieve.

This is not a marketing message — it is the foundation of how Clear Steps Recovery operates. Every clinical decision, every protocol, every patient interaction is informed by a physician who has been on both sides of addiction.

Board Certifications

Dr. Marasa holds board certifications in three medical specialties. This combination is rare — very few physicians in the country maintain active certification in all three.

Board Certified in Addiction Medicine

Certification in Addiction Medicine, recognized through the American Board of Preventive Medicine (ABPM), demonstrates expertise in the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of substance use disorders. For patients at Clear Steps Recovery, this means their medical oversight comes from a physician who specializes in exactly what they are here for.

Board Certified in Emergency Medicine

Emergency Medicine certification reflects mastery of acute, undifferentiated medical presentations across all ages and conditions. For addiction patients who may present in crisis — whether overdose, severe withdrawal, or medically complex cases — Dr. Marasa's emergency medicine background means Clear Steps Recovery's clinical oversight can respond to whatever arises.

Board Certified in Internal Medicine

Internal medicine forms the clinical foundation. This certification gives Dr. Marasa the diagnostic depth to evaluate and manage the full spectrum of medical conditions that commonly co-occur with addiction: hypertension, liver disease, infectious disease, metabolic disorders, cardiovascular complications. Addiction does not exist in isolation — and neither does Dr. Marasa's approach to treating it.

Addressing the Opioid Crisis in Vermont

Before his work at Clear Steps Recovery, Dr. Marasa led a pioneering program at Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center that changed how emergency departments respond to opioid use disorder. As Medical Director of Emergency Services, he recognized that patients arriving at the ED in opioid crisis represented a critical intervention window — a moment when they were most receptive to treatment.

Rather than treating the acute crisis and discharging patients with a referral they might never follow up on, Dr. Marasa implemented a protocol to provide the first dose of Suboxone directly in the emergency department. This program, developed in collaboration with Connecticut Valley Addiction Recovery (CVAR), created a seamless pathway from emergency care to ongoing addiction treatment.

He also championed the Recovery Coaches in the Emergency Department (RCED) program — placing trained recovery coaches directly in the ED to connect with patients during their most vulnerable moments. Dr. Marasa co-presented on this work at the Vermont Recovery Network's 2023 Annual Conference and delivered the keynote address at Recovery Day 2023.

His Role at Clear Steps Recovery

As Medical Director, Dr. Marasa provides clinical oversight across all programs at both the Londonderry, New Hampshire and Needham, Massachusetts locations. His responsibilities include medical evaluation and intake assessment for all incoming patients, prescribing and supervising Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) protocols including Suboxone and Vivitrol, overseeing co-occurring medical conditions throughout treatment, and ensuring clinical standards meet or exceed Joint Commission accreditation requirements.

Every patient at Clear Steps Recovery benefits from his oversight, whether or not they interact with him directly. His influence shapes the program's clinical protocols, staff training, and the culture of care that patients experience from their first call to their last day in treatment.