be well therapies

Dr. Michelle Thompson-Olson, DO, AOBFP, ABOIM, DipABLM, FACLM

LIFESTYLE, INTEGRATIVE, FAMILY, & MIND-BODY MEDICINE PHYSICIAN SPECIALIZING IN PERSONALIZED MEDICINE

Lifestyle, Integrative, & Mind-Body Medicine Practitioner

Integrative Wellness & Culinary Medicine Maven

Education & Training

The American Board of Integrative Medicine (ABOIM) recognizes Dr. Thompson as an exemplary advocate of its goal of helping patients by treating the root causes of health problems and not the symptoms. CLICK HERE to read the American Board of Physician Specialties article on Dr. Thompson and how patients benefit from integrative medicine.

• Triple-board certified physician: Integrative, Lifestyle and Osteopathic Family Medicine

• Specializes in treating the root cause of health problems, not just the symptoms 

• Vice Chief of Staff UPMC Horizon & Jameson

• Trained in Mind-Body Medicine

• Graduate of Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine 

• Former director of Great Lakes Institute of Technology massage therapy program, 1998

• 2003 Completed family medicine residency at UPMC Mercy Hospital Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

• Former trustee for Pennsylvania Osteopathic Medical Association

• Committee member for Complimentary and Integrative Medicine

• Studied with the Neuromuscular Therapy Center in St. Petersburg, Florida

• Active clinical teacher for medical students, interns, and residents

• Associate medical professor for LECOM and PCOM, both osteopathic medical schools in Pennsylvania

• Faculty for University of Pittsburgh Medical School

• Former Chair of Medicine UPMC Horizon

• Physician advisor for Nemacolin Woodlands Resort Holistic Healing Center in Farmington, Pennsylvania

• Cultivator of life changing wellness retreats for relaxation and disease reversal

• Wanderlust “Speakeasy” wellness ambassador

Born and raised in the Shenango Valley, Dr. Thompson has developed a Free Healthy Living Series, where she lectures and provides experiential opportunities to anyone in the community seeking knowledge in integrative modalities.  Her programs are eligible to receive credit toward insurance deductible by showing the participant has "taken a healthy step."  She has taken her unique medicine approach out of the office to share in efforts to reach more people, designing programs with no financial, physical, age, or gender barriers.  By collaborating with fellow practitioners, community members have experienced yoga with live acoustic guitar, aromatherapy, sound therapy with crystal singing bowls, flutes, gongs, didgeridoo, art therapy, reiki, tai chi, qigong, energy modalities, dancing mindfulness, breath work, guided imagery, kids yoga, meditation, nutrition, and lifestyle modalities all free of charge.  

She has been active in teaching the whole food plant based diet to people in her community, creating cooking programs with a local chef and dietician, for eating to reverse disease.  By promoting "Doctors in the Kitchen-Food is Medicine," an approved continuing medical education event, she hopes her peers will implement the changes they learn into the way they practice medicine and will become models of health and healing for their patients.   

Currently, Dr. Thompson is employed by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and has a full-time integrative family medicine practice, seeing infants through the end of life using a natural approach to health care.  Her specialty is reversing disease through diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes while empowering her patients to take charge of their health and work as a team with their physician.  There are healing powers of proper nutrition in almost all disease processes, and she believes that eating for health can be pleasurable if we eat in a way that serves our body.  

Dr. Michelle Thompson-Olson, DO
Programs/Workshops

Shop with a Doc
As a physician,  I am  very mindful of the power of food and its place in prevention, longevity and disease reversal.  It is hard to know where to start with healthy diet when faced with so many decisions at the grocery store.  I am excited to offer “Shop with a Doc” to help you navigate the many choices that you have while shopping.  Our goals are to: help you read food labels, learn how to make healthier decisions,  help provide healthier options for meals and snacks, teaching meal prep, cost saving tips, beverage choices, smoothie ideas, organic vs non-organic, pre and probiotics, healthy gastrointestinal microbiome, sodium intake, canned vs frozen vs fresh, revamping your pantry and much more.

Meditate Not Medicate
Join Dr. Michelle Thompson and The Center for Sound Therapy for a lecture and sound bath meditation. Dr. Thompson will discuss the medical benefits of implementing a natural approach to medical problems explaining some of the health benefits of meditation and sound therapy. Some of the benefits of meditation and sound therapy can help improve mood disorders, anxiety, depression, PTSD, ADHD, cancer, insomnia, dementia, migraines, IBS, hypertension, heart disease, inflammatory conditions, fibromyalgia and chronic pain disorders.
(Dr. Michelle Thompson, DO and Maria & Calvin Wagner)

Aging with Balance and Grace
Age with Balance and Grace: Intro to Tai Chi, Qigong, and Yoga and how it can help with many medical problems like depression, anxiety, hypertension, osteoporosis, cancer, heart disease, along with many others.    Learn about the foundations of the ancient practices of tai chi and qigong and participate in using flowing, fluid, slow-motion movements as a form of moving meditation. Experience how this life energy work can help with relaxation and improve strength and balance, all essential factors to aging with grace.

Dinner with a Doc
Join us for an Interactive experience where you will participate in the preparation of healthy foods and learn how you can use food as your medicine. Food is the ultimate pharmacology. It has been extensively researched and supported by the highest quality evidence in the emerging field of nutrigenomics and culinary medicine. You will have the opportunity to sample many foods and see for yourself how nutritious foods can actually taste amazing.  Dr Thompson will educate you and answer questions about adopting this lifestyle so you can take charge of your health one bite at a time. Be prepared for a fun-filled experience learning to reverse disease-with your fork as your primary tool!

Eating to Reverse Disease-Food is Medicine
You may know that eating healthy can help you feel better and maintain a healthy weight. Did you know that good nutrition can also improve many chronic conditions such as heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure and many others? Learn how the food you eat can either be the most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison. You have a choice in your health and when you provide your body with the right fuel, it can heal itself. Educate yourself on how mindful eating practices can help you recognize what your body needs.

Healing the Healer
Healing the Healer while they Heal others. It is most important for physicians and care givers to take care of themselves before they take care of others. Quality of care and success increases when the health care leaders have all of the available tools on board and uses them in their own lives. Balance in life is important and often difficult to achieve. This program is an informative lecture on implementation of tips to help physicians and caregivers live a happier and healthier life enabling them to potentially provide a higher quality of care to their patients.

Teaching Kitchens

The teaching kitchen is a program that incorporates how to shop, prepare, and cook foods that align with a whole food plant-based diet. This program is ideally conducted over four sessions but can be condensed to one two-hour evening. Topics include: Food as Medicine, Prepping for Success, Plant-based Cooking, and a Plant-based Community for Sustainability. These classes nurture a creative environment where active learning in encouraged through use of video, lecture, and a hands-on approach for prepping and cooking snacks, side dishes and meals. We will focus on building the foundation of a healthier mind, body, and spirit through the transformational power of plant-based food.