How Motherhood Shaped Dr. Michelle Thompson’s Path in Medicine: From Personal Practice to System Change Through Lifestyle, Integrative & Mind-Body Medicine
Aug 31, 2026Shownotes For Podcast Episode 20: How Motherhood Shaped Dr. Michelle Thompson’s Path in Medicine: From Personal Practice to System Change Through Lifestyle, Integrative & Mind-Body Medicine
In this episode of The Holistic Physician Coaching Podcast, Dr. Jessica Singh speaks with Dr. Michelle Thompson, a triple board-certified physician in Lifestyle Medicine, Integrative Medicine, and Osteopathic Family Medicine. As founder and medical director of UPMC Lifestyle Medicine, Dr. Thompson is leading efforts to place self-care at the center of patient care and employee health. She oversees the lifestyle medicine residency curriculum for family and internal medicine training programs, has served as Chair of Medicine, and currently serves as Vice Chief of Staff for UPMC Horizon and Jameson. As a Champion for UPMC Physician Thrive, she is also an advocate for physician wellness and addressing burnout. Dr. Thompson is additionally certified in Blue Zones®, Mind-Body Medicine, and Psychedelic Medicine and integrates culinary medicine and mind-body practices into her clinical care.
In this episode, Dr. Thompson shares the life experiences that shaped her path in medicine. She became a mother at 17 and completed undergraduate education, medical school, and residency while raising her son. She reflects on how these experiences influenced her decision to become a physician and her desire to create a different experience of healthcare for others. She also discusses the challenges of navigating motherhood alongside medical training, the people who supported her along the way, and what she learned from her son about presence, listening, and taking care of herself.
Dr. Thompson traces her journey through integrative medicine, lifestyle medicine, and mind-body medicine, and how each became part of both her personal practice and her work in healthcare. She discusses the six pillars of lifestyle medicine, her training in mind-body medicine, and how the COVID-19 pandemic deepened her use of grounding and breathwork in clinical care. She also shares how, during this same period, she was helping bring lifestyle medicine, self-care, and mind-body practices into medical education, physician well-being initiatives, meetings, and programs across UPMC.
Dr. Thompson reflects on finding people she could lean on, creating spaces where physicians can be human with one another, letting go of perfection, and becoming more comfortable with difficult conversations. She discusses trauma-informed care, deep listening, and the importance of rewriting narratives within medical education and healthcare.
Dr. Singh and Dr. Thompson also discuss supporting physicians through parenthood and other major life experiences. Dr. Thompson emphasizes taking the time that is needed, honoring emotions, and asking for what one needs. She shares why she believes physicians must take care of themselves in order to care for their families, patients, students, and communities, and describes how she incorporates movement, sleep, stress management, and other lifestyle medicine practices into her own life.
Dr. Thompson reminds listeners to listen to themselves, trust their inner wisdom, and recognize that a path does not need to already exist in order to move forward. Reflecting on her own experience building programs within a large healthcare system, she encourages each of us to build the path when one does not yet exist and to pause and reconnect when needed, so that we do not lose ourselves along the way in medicine.
Resources Mentioned in this Episode
- American College of Lifestyle Medicine. https://lifestylemedicine.org/
- Bessel van der Kolk M.D. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Penguin Books, 2015.
- Gordon, James. Transforming Trauma: Discovering Wholeness and Healing After Trauma. Hachette UK, 2019.
- Jackson, Donna. Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology, and How You Can Heal. Atria Books, 2016.
- Winfrey, Oprah, and Bruce D. Perry. What happened to you?: Conversations on trauma, resilience, and healing. Flatiron Books, 2021.
Website: https://www.wholeheartedmedicine.org/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-michelle-thompson-do-aobfp-aboim-dipablm-faclm-058688a/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mtyogidoc?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsi=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@wholeheartedmedicine6833
Bio:
Dr. Thompson is triple board-certified in Lifestyle Medicine, Integrative Medicine, and Osteopathic Family Medicine. She is also certified in Blue Zones®, Mind-Body Medicine, and Psychedelic Medicine, and integrates culinary medicine and mind-body practices into her clinical care. Since 2006, she has been deeply involved in medical education at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, teaching and mentoring medical students, interns, residents, and attending physicians, with a focus on prevention, whole-person care, and lifestyle-based approaches to health.As the founder and medical director for UPMC Lifestyle Medicine, she is leading the initiative to place self-care in the center of patient care and employee health. She is changing the way medical education and residency is taught, placing lifestyle medicine at the center of their training overseeing the lifestyle medicine residency curriculum for family and internal medicine training programs. She has served as Chair of Medicine and currently Vice Chief of Staff for UPMC Horizon and Jameson.
As a Champion for UPMC Physician Thrive, she is a fierce advocate for physician wellness and stopping burnout. Dr Thompson was featured in the New York Times on several occasions for her work in physician burnout, the workshops she has created, and mind-body skills groups for physicians and implementations of AI in healthcare. She was also featured in the recent documentary Going Om discussing the health benefits of sound therapy as a tool in healing.
Timestamps:
0:00 — Grounding, Centering & Introduction
07:00 — The Life Experiences That Shape Us: Dr. Thompson’s Journey as a Teenage Mother and Physician
17:00 — Integrative, Lifestyle & Mind-Body Medicine: From Personal Practice to Changing Healthcare Systems
23:00 — Finding Support, Embracing Vulnerability & Rewriting Narratives in Medicine
35:00 — Honoring What You Need & Paving Your Own Path in Medicine
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