MEET THE TEAM
LAB DIRECTOR
Working to create more equitable, accessible, and culturally sensitive healthcare through research, teaching, and advocacy
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Isabel is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing, where her research focuses on identifying effective implementation strategies to promote access to evidence-based complementary and integrative health practices among diverse populations. In 2024, she was awarded the National Institutes of Health’s HEAL Award for Community Partnership. She was a Research Assistant Professor at the UNC School of Medicine’s Program on Integrative Medicine from 2021-2024. In 2021, she completed a T32 Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Complementary and Integrative Health funded by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. She is the Immediate Past Chair of the Integrative, Complementary, and Traditional Health Practices Section of the American Public Health Association. She was awarded the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health’s Young Investigator Award in 2018.
Previously, she was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health (UTHealth), with Dr. Vanessa Schick. In December 2017, Isabel graduated from the UTHealth School of Public Health with Doctorate in Public Health (DrPH). As a student, graduate assistant, and teaching assistant in the Community Health Practice program, she worked with professors and students throughout the Department of Management, Policy, and Community Health. In 2013, Isabel graduated from Georgetown University with a Master's of Science degree in Physiology, Biophysics, and Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Previously, she taught 7th grade Life Science in Oakland, CA as a Teach for America Corps Member.
Isabel graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oberlin College, where she studied Dance and Neuroscience and graduated with Highest Honors.
SOCIAL-CLINICAL RESEARCH SPECIALIST
Passionate about translating evidence into practice to improve population health
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I bring broad experience in clinical, administrative, academic, and research settings to the role of Social-Clinical Research Specialist under Dr. Roth.
My path to the MAGIC Implementation Lab began with an interest in holistic and traditional health practices from a young age. This led me to the study of bodywork, nutrition and botanical medicine, traditional and indigenous medical systems, yoga and mind-body practices, and ultimately licensed massage therapy and certification as a holistic health practitioner.
At the same time I studied cognitive neuroscience, human development, nursing practice and management, health systems and finance, health policy, quality improvement, and program implementation and evaluation. Through this time I completed ADN, BA, MSN, and DNP degrees and became licensed as a registered nurse.
I bolstered my academic experience with a range of professional roles including direct patient care in safety-net primary care and orthopedic surgery, administration and supervision in ambulatory surgery and public health, nursing education as academic and clinical faculty in a pre-licensure nursing program, and owner/operator of massage therapy and healthcare consulting practices.
My belief in community service brought me to India and Vietnam as a medical volunteer, and current roles on several professional boards and committees including the Integrative, Complementary, and Traditional Health Practices section of the American Public Health Association, the Public Health Nursing section of the Michigan Public Health Association, my local Public Education Foundation, and the Integrated Center for Group Medical Visits conference committee.
My passion for increasing equitable access to integrative and integrated healthcare brought me to Dr. Roth’s lab where I can apply my diverse skill set to the study of strategic implementation and evaluation of evidence-based integrative health practices.
Frequent Collaborators
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Jessica Barnhill MD, MPH
Assistant Professor Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Dr. Barnhill is a family medicine physician who provides integrative medicine consults and co-facilitates integrative medical group visits at UNC. She researches whole health approaches to improving wellbeing for patients and healthcare professionals.
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Ariana Thompson-Lastad, PhD
Assistant Professor, UCSF Department of Family and Community Medicine and UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Health
Ariana Thompson-Lastad, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Health and the Department of Family and Community Medicine. Dr. Thompson-Lastad is trained as a medical sociologist and conducts qualitative and community-engaged research focused on the role of integrative healthcare in advancing health equity. Her work primarily examines innovative approaches to primary care, including integrative group medical visits implemented in US community health centers. She also conducts research on the community midwifery model of care, with a focus on postpartum support. Dr. Thompson-Lastad is a leadership team member of the Structural Competency Working Group and a former board member of Integrative Medicine for the Underserved. She is an affiliated faculty member with the UCSF Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health and the UC Berkeley Center for Social Medicine. Prior to becoming a researcher, Dr. Thompson-Lastad worked in a community health center as a diabetes care coordinator and group medical visit facilitator.