Dr. Lisa Del Alba, ND, BBEC, EMRS

Building Biologist; Building Biology Environmental Consultant, and ElectroMagnetic Radiation Specialist.

Dr. Del Alba is a Building Biologist who, after retiring from practicing as a naturopathic physician for more than two decades, now assists individuals towards attainment of healthier relationships to their living and working environments.

Influenced over the years by the types of clients who sought her services and by her time living in Fairbanks, Alaska, she has increasingly focused on the relationship of a person to their environment. This focus led to Building Biology double certification in 2023. She now enjoys doing Building Biology assessments for homes and businesses in the Pacific Northwest and the Austin, TX area. .

She has accumulated hundreds of hours in formal medical continuing education topics including, but not limited to: general environmental health topics and remediation ; EMR health topics and remediation; mold related health issues and remediation; homeopathic low dose immunotherapy (LDI) as related to allergy, autoimmunity and other immune dysregulating conditions; general toxicology; general pharmacology; hormonal health; neurologic, cardiovascular and digestive health; nutritional and herbal medicine; respiratory physiology and various oxygen therapies. Study, both in-the-field and book studies, done both individually and collaboratively, is thoroughly woven into her lifestyle.

See below for a brief interview with Dr. Lisa.

How do you approach a new client?

When I see a client for the first time, my hope is, more or less, to get to know them as an individual. Rudolf Steiner, co-founder of anthroposophic medicine, Waldorf education, and Biodynamic farming once commented that there is as much difference from one human individual to the next as there is among different species of animals! My favorite part of my job is sitting face-to-face with my clients and hearing about their unique lives, and feeling amazement about how incredible it is that there can be so many different ways to live a human life. How do we all do it? My ideal client is someone who is interested in learning about their health, and co-working with me towards better health.

What led you to a career as a naturopathic doctor?

Starting out my higher education with a combination-type of degree in physics, electrical engineering, and mathematics left me with a propensity to want to think things through. I heard lectures from physicists and mathematicians that left me with a sense of awe and wonder at the workings of the world and the universe. As a young mother, I remember worrying about my children when something unfamiliar would come up health-wise. For example, at one point, one child had persistent diarrhea, and another was chronically constipated. Like a ‘good mom’, I carted them in to see a local pediatrician. His brief explanations and suggestions were unsatisfying and didn’t seem to help anything. So, I started researching on my own.

After months of experiences, wondering, and researching, the questions only led to more questions. The whole process led to a sense of wonder and reverence for how the human being lives in their body, and how we all live in connection with the broader world. The human being was every bit as complex, fascinating and wonderful as I had felt the entire world and universe to be during my university studies! I remember thinking to myself; ‘Wow, this could be a full-time job’. A career change was in the making.

Tell us about your early life:

I grew up in a household that, in some ways, held fairly conventional beliefs. I am fortunate to have had a supportive and fruitful upbringing with parents who were interested in life and taught and shared their interests. My dad grew up as a cowboy on a Colorado ranch, and was a practicing psychologist who also taught at a local college. My mom founded and directed a pre-school while being a full-time mom who cooked, sewed, knitted, played piano, etc. She eventually went back to school, received her doctorate, and worked for the University of Maryland. Both parents loved the arts, adventure, travel, the outdoors, and human diversity. They eventually went their separate ways, and I became a teenager.

With such a wonderful preparation by my life circumstances and my parents, I then proceeded to make many mistakes! I learned to work my way out of and through many and varied errors and unhealthy experiences along my life path. These life experiences, among others, have deepened my ability to feel understanding for where a client finds themselves in their life situation.

What is your medical philosophy regarding natural medicine and the concept of Eastern and Western medicine?

My scientific education has trained my thinking capacities, and my interest in the world keeps me learning and open to new possibilities. Anthroposophic spiritual science has provided for me an indispensable lens for a feeling and understanding which helps towards putting all of these various pieces together.

When asked what my views are on ‘eastern’ and ‘western’ medicine, some people are surprised by my answer. In popular culture, many people think of allopathic (conventional or institutionalized) medicine as western, and almost anything else such as ‘alternative’ or naturopathic medicine as ‘eastern’. Actually, this is not a completely accurate picture. I think of ‘eastern’ medicine as medical systems arising out of the ancient wisdom of Eastern cultures – a few examples being Chinese and Ayurvedic systems of medicine. The Western world also has its older medical traditions. Naturopathy has its roots in nature-cure practices in old-Europe and the Americas. Anthroposophical medicine, co-founded by Rudolf Steiner and Dr. Ita Wegman, has its origins in Central Europe and included an effort to bring ancient Eastern wisdom into the Western culture in a form that could be more understandable for Western bodily constitutions and modes of understanding.

How do you work as a Building Biologist?