Meet the New Voices of the Root Cause M...

You've been hearing new voices in the host chair lately — so this week we're pulling back the curtain to introduce them properly. Dr. Kate Kresge sits down with Dr. Holly Lucille, Dr. Lara Zakaria, and Dr. Jessica Christie for a roundtable on the winding, deeply personal paths that led each of them into root-cause medicine.

A pharmacist nearly buried under her own stack of nutrition books who came out dual-licensed. A psychology student who couldn't find a medical school that took food and sleep seriously, so she built her own path. A holistic nurse turned naturopathic doctor who fought for her profession on the statehouse floor. And a host whose decade-long "mystery illness" resolved in three days once the right test was finally run. What ties them together is a stubborn refusal to stop at the easy answer — the instinct to say, let's think this through, because so often the protocol failed the patient, not the other way around.

Consider this your proper introduction to the team learning and sharing what works, right alongside you.

What you'll hear

• Why every one of these clinicians came to functional medicine as a "detective" — and often as a patient first.
• Dr. Lara Zakaria's path from community pharmacist to dual-licensed nutritionist, and a clear-eyed explainer on what the CNS credential actually requires.
• Dr. Jessica Christie's move from developmental psychology into naturopathic medicine, becoming her own first patient, and finding her way into fertility and women's health.
• Dr. Holly Lucille's journey through holistic nursing and naturopathic medicine — and helping pass California's ND licensing bill (SB 907) in 2004.
• Dr. Kate Kresge's decade of misdiagnosed illness that resolved in days once the root cause was identified — and why it reshaped how she thinks about mental-health symptoms with a physiological root cause.
• How Rupa and Fullscript coming together puts labs, education, boot camps, webinars and AI-assisted evidence in one free place for clinicians.
• The team's reframe of "the patient failed treatment" into "the treatment failed the patient" — and what patient-centered care really means.

Key themes

• Let's think things through — clinical reasoning over the 15-minute prescribe-and-go visit.
• The empowered, informed patient is a good thing; clinicians add the nuance.
• Whole-person care means mind and body are never truly separate.
• Personalization: the protocol fits the patient, not the other way around.

Timestamps

• 02:21 — Welcoming the hosts
• 03:13 — Naming the listeners
• 05:35 — "Let's think things through"
• 06:40 — Nuance and the empowered patient
• 09:02 — Dr. Lara Zakaria's story
• 12:16 — Dr. Jessica Christie's story
• 16:00 — Rupa magazine + free education
• 17:03 — What a CNS is
• 20:10 — Dr. Holly Lucille's story
• 28:17 — Whiskey Flower + Wipeout
• 30:16 — Rupa + Fullscript coming together
• 32:20 — AI Assist for whole-person care
• 34:00 — Dr. Kate Kresge's story
• 44:11 — The protocol failed the patient
• 46:05 — What excites the team next
• 53:21 — Wrap-up + listener name reveal

Want to elevate your practice? This episode is sponsored by Fullscript, a comprehensive care delivery platform designed to support whole-person, integrative healthcare. Fullscript allows clinicians to streamline supplement dispensing, lab ordering, and patient education in one free, centralized system—helping reduce administrative burden while supporting clinical decision-making. For practitioners, Fullscript offers access to professional-grade supplements, evidence-informed protocols, and lab integrations that can support more efficient planning and follow-up. For patients, it provides a clear, organized way to receive recommendations, manage refills, and stay engaged in their care. The goal is not to replace clinical judgment, but to make it easier for clinicians to focus on what matters most: thoughtful, individualized patient care.

Disclaimer: Views expressed are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect Fullscript or affiliated organizations. For informational and educational purposes only; not medical advice.