Our Team

What qualifies our team to practice integrative functional medicine… and why should you entrust us with your health? Scroll down to learn more about Dr. Maren and her team, including professional bios, credentials, and our own personal journeys to healing.

Christine Maren, Functional Medicine Physician

Christine Maren D.O. is a board-certified physician and the founder of a virtual functional medicine practice in Colorado, Michigan and Texas. She was introduced to functional medicine after struggling with pregnancy complications and recurrent miscarriages. Now a mother of three, she’s devoted her professional life to helping others address the root cause of symptoms to restore health, prevent disease, and get their life back.

She earned her medical degree (D.O.) at the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine of Midwestern University and later moved to San Antonio, Texas to train at one of the nation’s premier family medicine residency programs at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital.

Part of Dr. Maren’s residency was spent in Tucson, Arizona, studying with Dr. Andrew Weil’s group at The University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine. Dr. Weil, also known as ‘The Father of Integrative Medicine,’ was a guiding figure early in her career.

She was later introduced to functional medicine to address her own health concerns, and knew it would become the focus of her practice. Inspired by 2X NYT best-selling author and fellow functional medicine physician, Dr. Amy Myers, she joined her practice at Austin UltraHealth. She completed her exams and coursework to become a Certified Practitioner with the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFMCP) in 2017.

Dr. Maren later opened her own independent practice where she offers patients her unique brand of functional medicine care with a focus on women’s health, from preconception through menopause, and other concerns such as gut health, hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s, autoimmune disorders, hormonal issues, and more. Read more →

Ella Soderholm, Registered Nurse & Master Nutrition Therapist

Ella Soderholm is a Registered Nurse (RN) and a Master Nutrition Therapist (MNT). She has worked in the healthcare industry for over 15 years, with the past 8 years dedicated to Functional Medicine and Nutrition.

Ella’s nursing career began in the Operating Room, followed by many years in Public Health. She has always felt a strong pull to work in chronic disease prevention, but found traditional medicine offered limited opportunities and solutions.

It was through her own struggle with autoimmune disease that Ella found her “forever home” in functional medicine. As a patient, she discovered that conventional medicine’s band-aid approach did not provide the healing she needed. It was only through her discovery of functional medicine that her health was finally and fully restored.

This inspired Ella to make a career change that better aligned with her new health philosophy. She completed her Master Nutrition Therapist (MNT) certification through the Nutrition Therapy Institute in Denver, CO in 2015.

The combination of Ella’s nursing and nutrition backgrounds help her provide a holistic, science-based approach to individualized integrative care. She is also First Line Therapy Certified, and believes that 90% of disease management comes from diet and lifestyle changes.

She has a wide array of experience with many different types of clients and conditions, and specializes in gut health, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), autoimmunity, weight loss, and metabolic conditions. Read more →

Leah Novak, Registered Nurse & Master Nutrition Therapist

Leah Novak is a Master Nutrition Therapist (MNT), Registered Nurse (RN, BSN) and Certified Personal Trainer (CPT). With over 20 years working in the healthcare and fitness industries, Leah specializes in supporting her patients through tailored nutrition with the goal of experiencing more vitality, wellness and energy.

Leah’s career started in the Intensive Care Unit, Chemical Addiction/Rehab, and Perioperative Services at various local hospitals throughout Colorado and in Minnesota. In 2015, her own health issues led her to functional medicine where, as a patient herself, she learned that conventional medicine wasn’t providing the healing she desired. Within a year of using a functional medicine approach, Leah’s physical and mental health improved immensely. So much so, she made a career change to be part of the medicine specialty that better aligned with her values.

She attended the Nutritional Therapy Institute of Denver for just under 3 years to become a Master Nutrition Therapist (MNT), and enjoys ongoing training through The Functional Forum and others. She is also our avid podcast listener (her favorites include The Drive with Peter Attia and The Doctors Farmacy with Mark Hyman) and considers herself a life-long learner.

Leah joined Dr. Maren’s team in January 2019 and hasn’t looked back since! Her experience using lifestyle-based approaches is wide-ranging and targets gut health, mental health, cardiometabolic conditions, autoimmunity, and more. Her newest area of excitement is helping her patients better understand the relationship between genes and optimizing health, an area of study called Nutrigenomics. Read more →

Samantha Shoemaker, Patient Coordinator and Office Manager

Samantha began her career in the health field studying physical therapy, which led her to her true passion as a yoga instructor. However, it was after getting to know Dr. Maren during her family’s time in Michigan that she discovered functional medicine. And (as she puts it): “my life was forever changed.”

Samantha received a yoga instructor certification from Beaumont’s School of Yoga Therapy, and has been teaching yoga since 2014. Her practice ran the gamut from offering truck driver’s yoga to working in the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit. This experience running her own business and as a caregiver, along with her passion for healthy living makes her ideally suited for her role as office manager and patient coordinator.

Samantha takes care of all our administrative work (and then some!) while helping coordinate efforts between our team, new and established patients, vendors, labs, contractors, etc. She loves her job, and excels at keeping everything running smoothly behind the scenes while creating a welcoming environment for our patients.

For Samantha, working within this field is deeply personal as a close family member was a victim of the opioid epidemic and she has also watched many other people in her life struggle with their health while never being guided to treat the root cause of their complaints. Thus, she has become a tireless advocate for helping others finding better routes for healing and care through integrative functional medicine. Read more →

What Our Patients Have to Say

To all the new mamas experiencing hair loss; incredible, enduring fatigue; debilitating brain fog - I want to just tell every one of you that IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE LIKE THAT! I was about 10 months postpartum when my "IBS" was bad enough that I decided I needed to start trying to find help again. I had seen GIs off and on for about 10 years... Dr. Maren gives me hope for the future of medicine and breathes life into this poor, crippled industry! You will leave feeling listened to and heard, and most of all, hopeful! My brain fog dissipated almost immediately and I could care for my kiddos in ways I hadn't been able to - looking forward even to spending days with them, rather than dreading them because I had. no. energy. She has made such a profound impact on my and my family's life. Please seek her out! She is queen.— A.B.

Dr. Maren is truly a lifesaver. I spent months having traditional practitioners tell me that there was nothing they could do to help my digestive issues, and I was fine. After one phone call with Dr. Maren, she correctly identified what my symptoms meant. She prescribed simple, at-home tests, and within a month I had a treatment plan. Within 3 months, I'm feeling the best that I've felt in a year. During each appointment, she takes the time to explain all test results, and never feels rushed. If you or someone in your family is suffering from a chronic issue, I highly recommend a call to Dr. Maren's functional medicine practice.— A.H.

Dr. Maren has been an answer to my prayers in many ways! I've dealt with hypothyroid issues for the last 15 years and 7 years ago was diagnosed with celiacs. I had seen great improvement in my health after treating my thryoid and changing my diet, but I still didn't feel like I was at optimal health. I had been searching for a doctor that could help me navigate nutrition, lifestyle changes, and preventative medicine. I am the type that is always researching on my own to find the next supplement idea etc, and it has been a huge relief to have someone much more knowledgable to help me navigate these things. Dr. Maren knows the right things to look for and test for so that instead of "guessing" we are testing and implementing supplements and changes based on the results of the test. She is thorough, wise, and empathetic. She is intentional about getting to the root cause of things instead of just putting a bandaid on the situation. I'm so thankful for her and cannot recommend her more!— A.S.

Dr. Maren was one of the few people in my life, and the ONLY doctor, out of roughly 7 doctors, to believe in my symptoms right from the start... After every conventional medicine doctor dismissed my symptoms, and eventually I landed in the office of a psychiatrist, Dr. Maren entered my life. She dove into my case like an investigator would and never once believe my symptoms were just "in my head". She helped me to uncover and treat numerous underlying issues. From the start, she encouraged me to test for what would eventually lead to my "answer" but I chose to put off that very final test until about nine months into my treatment with her. This is my only regret because my final diagnosis of chronic Lyme Disease explained EVERYTHING, including WHY I had developed all of my underlying issues in the first place. Fortunately, she had already implemented such a helpful protocol that I was treating my Lyme disease without even knowing it. Dr. Maren literally saved my life, maybe not in the physical sense because nothing I had going on was an immediate life threat, but my mental state when I found her surely would have put me over the edge eventually. She is patient, kind, relentless and brilliant. I owe her so much and cannot recommend her enough if you are looking for an incredible functional medicine doctor.— B.P.

I am feeling better than I've felt in years. The regimen of supplements you have me on has me sleeping more soundly, without wine, and managing my days with a significantly less foggy mind... I have been chalking my fog up to having a 2 and 3 year old and just assuming I had Mommy brain. I was literally hacking and coughing from May through August this year and your suggestions for supplements and lifestyle changes have all but cured my nagging inflammation in my chest and sinuses. Your picture of my total being helped find the answers when my conventional doctors welcomed my co-pay 5 times, sent me to unnecessary radiation and specialists and through 4 separate inadequate medications... I will sing your praises for eternity and encourage everyone I know to take control of their health to be the best version of themselves possible.— H.H.

I came to see Dr. Maren at the most difficult time in my life. I had been suffering from a devastating chronic illness for almost three years that none of the 17 doctors I had been to in LA could diagnose. Finally, Dr Maren did the one thing no one else thought to do - she tested me for heavy metals. As it turned out, I had a severe case of heavy metal poisoning. If it weren't for Dr Maren, it's unclear how my story would have ended, but it probably wouldn't have been a happy one. I continue to see her to this day, and for anyone suffering from a chronic illness who can't find answers in conventional medicine, I couldn't recommend Dr Maren more highly!— M.K.