Dr. Adriana Kipper-Smith served as clinical faculty between 2015 and 2018, rejoining the department as faculty in 2024. She is a licensed clinical psychologist who completed her undergraduate degree at Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos and master’s degree in developmental psychology at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, both in Brazil. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Fielding Graduate University and completed a predoctoral internship at Vanderbilt/Veteran Affairs Consortium of Professional Psychology. Her postdoctoral fellowship in clinical psychology was at the Vanderbilt University Counseling Center.

Dr. Kipper-Smith served as clinical director at the Vanderbilt University Counseling Center, where she spent 12 years before joining the Work/Life Connections—EAP team in 2022. She is part of the Faculty and Physicians Wellness Program (FPWP), and she focuses on promoting wellbeing in the workplace. She also facilitates process groups for psychiatry residents. Dr. Kipper-Smith’s clinical research has been focused on psychodynamic psychotherapy, biofeedback, mind-body approaches, and wellbeing.