Dr. Thompson is a triple board-certified physician in lifestyle, integrative, and osteopathic family medicine. In her practice, she incorporates culinary medicine and mind-body skills into her patient care, along with teaching medical students, interns, and residents at UPMC since 2006. As the medical director for the Lifestyle Medicine Institute, she is leading the initiative to place self-care in the center of patient care and employee health. By incorporating her background into the medical education and residency curriculum, Michelle is able to change the way medical education has traditionally been delivered. She has served as the Chair of Medicine and currently Vice Chief of Staff for UPMC Horizon and Jameson. Dr. Thompson created a “Doctors in the Kitchen – Food as Medicine and Physician Wellness” program offering continuing medical education for her colleagues to learn about self-care and lifestyle medicine. As an avid educator and faculty for LECOM, PCOM, and UPSOM, she has taken traditional journal clubs for the residents into the teaching kitchen. She designed lifestyle medicine grand rounds offered virtually system wide.

Dr. Thompson has transformed the way healthcare is offered in her primary care practice and community by offering free classes in nutrition, WFPB teaching kitchens, mindfulness workshops, yoga, tai chi, qigong, meditation, sound therapy, art therapy, forest bathing, shop with a doc, aromatherapy, dancing mindfulness, Ayurveda, mind-body medicine, and many other integrative tools empowering people to take control of their health. She has received many awards and grants for her work. Her pop-up teaching kitchen she designed moves through the community teaching churches, schools, businesses, first responders, and doctors’ offices the daily dozen and pillars of lifestyle medicine. Michelle is an advocate for system change and has been a pioneer in changing the way healthcare is delivered.