Loren A. Olson, MD

Dr. Loren A. Olson completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln NE and then continued his education in medical school at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. He spent an internship year at Bryan Memorial Medical Center in Omaha. After medical school, he spent four years in the Navy as a Flight Surgeon during the Viet Nam era. After his discharge, he entered his psychiatry residency at Maine Medical Center in Portland Maine. During his final year he served as Chief Resident in Psychiatry. He has been board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology since 1975.

Dr. Olson is a Distinguished Life Fellow American Psychiatric Association for exceptional service to the profession of psychiatry. He has received awards from the American Psychiatric Association for his writing and editing from the APA. Dr. Olson received the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Dr. Olson has presented at the World Congress of Psychiatry in Prague, the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, and the Association of Gay and Lesbian Psychiatrists. He is also a member of the American Medical Association. Dr. Olson “retired” from Innovative Psychiatric Services in June 2018. His love for the practice of psychiatry, pulled him out of retirement to work as an independent contractor for United Community HealthCare in Des Moines. His most recent position has been practicing adult outpatient psychiatry for Mercy One Psychiatry in Waterloo, Iowa.

Dr. Olson came out as gay at the age of forty and began to wonder if his experience coming out in midlife was like others who came out later in life. His research let to the publication Finally Out, first published in 2011 with a second edition published in 2017. The second edition won the Ben Franklin Gold Award for the best LGBT non-fiction book from the Independent Book Publishers Association in 2018.

After publication of Finally Out, Dr. Olson began speaking to groups throughout the United States and Canada. Not only did he speak about his story but also through personal interviews and correspondence, expanded his exposure to the lives of hundreds of mature gay men from many different cultures and socio-economic groups around the world.

Dr. Olson has always enjoyed the challenges of writing, initially focusing on subjects related to psychiatry. After coming out, his primary interests have been writing about LGBT experiences and the challenges and opportunities that come with growing older.

Dr. Olson’s essays in Psychology Today have been accessed over one million times. He has also written for The Advocate, Huffington Post, Medium, and many other local and national newspapers

He has been interviewed many times for the print, radio and TV media, including an appearance on ‘Good Morning America.”

Loren A Olson MD is a gay father, psychiatrist, popular speaker, and author of Finally Out. Dr. Olson helps people find ways to keep emotional pain from becoming needless suffering.

Dr. Olson's former wife, Lynn, and his now husband, Doug, have been known to cook Thanksgiving dinner together for their children and grandchildren. Their children and grandchildren just shrug their shoulders and smile when asked why they have two grandmothers and three grandfathers.