Kristina first moved to Colorado in 1990 for her pre-medical education at CU-Boulder.  She likes to talk about how the lure of Colorado living brought her back to our charming town four times before she settled down here in Boulder with her husband and two lovely daughters.  They can be seen biking, walking their dog, training for the Bolder Boulder or watching one of their daughters perform at Rocky Mountain Theater for Kids.  In the evenings, Kristina enjoys cooking healthy meals for her family and friends.

Kristina has always had a passion for health and wellness.  Her journey into health and medicine started in Boston working in metabolic research while earning her Masters Degree from Tufts University.  She then started her medical school education in Israel at the Columbia University of New York collaboration with Ben Gurion University of the Negev.  When her mother became ill, she realized she needed to live closer to home and completed her medical school clinical rotations in the US.  She graduated with her MD from the American University of Integrative Health (formerly University of Sint Eustatius School of Medicine) and completed her internal medicine residency at the Columbia University Affiliated Stamford Hospital in Connecticut.

In 2006, she came back to Colorado and started working at a hospital system on the Western Slope.  Shortly after, she met her husband, Rick and they decided to start a family. Kristina has worked in primary care for over 20 years with the last 10 of those at Boulder Community Health.  During the Covid pandemic, she expanded her knowledge and obtained a certificate from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition.  Most recently, she has been taking courses at the Harvard Psychiatry School relating to cognitive behavioral therapy and how to become resilient when exposed to many of life’s stressors.

At Ingredients For Life, the unique combination of compassionate, expert medical care and integrative nutrition help clients achieve their health goals. During extended visits, she focuses on bringing back what matters in life: health and happiness. Kristina takes the extra time to share the science of how nutrients interact at both the gut and DNA level which ultimately improves overall function.  She likes to explain what macro and micronutrients do in the body.  She also discusses how stress, sleep and satisfaction effect the same pathways as food and medicine. Utilizing up-to-date, peer reviewed, medical and nutritional research, she elucidates how healthy lifestyle choices improve energy, weight, blood pressure, glucose levels, sleep and overall life satisfaction.