Dr. Suzie Carmack, PhD

Meet Dr. Suzie Carmack, Phd, MFA, MEd, ERYT, PMA-CPT, NBC-HWC

Dr. Carmack has over 28 years of experience in the promotion of well-being, as an award-winning performance coach, college professor and trainer of coaches and yoga teachers with her company YogaMedCo. She is the author of three books and multiple journal articles, and shares her translational research and thought leadership with teams, organizations and agencies internationally through customized keynotes, training workshops and academic conference presentations. She also applies her research in the creation of customized well-being and performance programs for organizations and hospital systems, and she has personally coached over 1000 leaders and senior military personnel to lead more effectively and efficiently, through the power of personal performance and mindset coaching. As an interdisciplinary scholar, she holds a PhD in health communication, an MEd in kinesiology, an MFA in theatre, as well as professional credentials as a trainer of nationally board-certified health coaches and registered yoga teachers. She holds faculty appointments with George Mason University and the American University, and is the CEO of YogaMedCo, her research and training center dedicated to bringing the practices of yoga, medicine and coaching together to improve provider and patient well-being outcomes.

Dr. Carmack is internationally recognized for her pioneering efforts to fight sitting disease by creating  well-being promotion campaigns that de-stigmatized the practices of yoga, mindfulness and mindful movement in the workplace and in schools. She was later personally commissioned by the World Health Organization to design pioneering health campaigns that launched global efforts to (1) fight sitting disease (2013); (2) promote mindfulness in the workplace (2014); and (3) reduce stigma around walking meetings (2015).  Since then, she has engineered and led multiple well-being promotion campaigns and translational research projects for U.S. government agencies, including serving as lead author on a white paper that inspired the Department of Defense to establish an office of performance in the Pentagon. She recently created and delivered the first-ever resilience training for senior leaders of the U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command, instructing over 200  two-, three- and four--star general officers to the science of performance coaching methodologies so that they can protect their own well-being as a "force multiplier"  (2018). She also researches the conditions of burnout, compassion fatigue, maladaptive perfectionism and stress contagion, and the ways that they can be transformed through the power of coaching and yoga, in order to improve professional performance, patient safety and quality of life -outcomes. 

Dr. Carmack was named George Mason University’s Department of Communication Alumnae of the Year in 2018. She has been featured in multiple regional, national and international publications such as Pilates Style Magazine and the Washington Post. 

As a Pittsburgh, PA native, Dr. Carmack has resided in Northern Virginia (near Washington, DC) since 2002. She and her fiancee Bob Shircliff and their daughter Sophia reside in Fairfax, VA. Her sons Christopher and Brandon are both graduates of Virginia Commonwealth University and live in Richmond, VA. 

Professional and Academic Training

Higher Education

• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Health Communication, George Mason University, 2014
• Master of Education (MEd) in Health and Kinesiolgy, University of Texas at Tyler, 2009
• Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Theatre & Arts Administration, University of Alabama, 1991
• Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Communication Arts & Writing, Allegheny College , 1989

Professional Training

• Well-Being Coach & Coach Trainer National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC), 2018
• Personal Trainer & Teacher Trainer American Council on Exercise (ACE-CPT), 2006
• Yoga Teacher & Teacher Trainer Yoga Alliance (ERYT 200/RYT 500), 2006
• Pilates Teacher & Teacher Trainer Pilates Method Alliance (PMA-CPT), 2006