Dr. Suzie Carmack, PhD

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

As a well-being promotion researcher, strategist, author and scholar, Dr. Carmack is transforming the ways that well-being is experienced in healthcare, workplace, and education settings today. She is the author of three books and multiple journal articles, and lectures internationally to share her research-driven thought leadership with individuals, teams, organizations and agencies. In addition to regularly presenting her research at adjudicated academic conferences, she has delivered over 150 customized keynotes and tailored training workshops internationally to federal agency and private sector clients, and she has personally coached over 1000 leaders to optimize their well-being. She currently serves as the Principal Communication and Well-Being Researcher with the American Institutes for Research, one of the oldest and largest social and behavioral science firms in the world, where she advises senior federal agency leadership on health policy, promotion and programming implementation. She also teaches in the graduate healthcare management program at the American University, and trains the future well-being coaches of tomorrow to become board-certified by the National Board of Health and Wellness Coaching and researches the effects of well-being coaching on clinical outcomes, through her online academy, YogaMedCo.

Before becoming a mixed-methods communication researcher and well-being promotion strategist and scholar, Dr. Carmack had over 20 years of "real world" experience as a performance coach, yoga therapist, college professor, well-being program designer and coach/teacher master trainer. These experiences inspired her research agenda, which is dedicated to the exploring the unique well-being needs of high achievers, healthcare providers, educators, and leaders in high stakes fields (including military and law), so that they can handle the unique performance demands they face in their work and their everyday lives. Her current research explores the unique coping, performance and well-being needs of senior military leaders and physicians, investigating the impact of the conditions of burnout, compassion fatigue, maladaptive perfectionism and stress contagion on their professional performance and quality of life -- and the ways that well-being coaching can help these workers to prevent and/or manage these challenges. 

As the Principal Communication and Well-Being Researcher at the American Institutes for Research, one of the oldest social and behavioral science firms in the world, Dr. Carmack leads a team in the creation, design, development and evaluation of health communication and well-being promotion solutions for public and private sector organizations clients domestically and internationally. She is currently serving as a Subject Matter Expert (Consultant) on projects supporting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Surgeon General and the Department of Defense.

Dr. Carmack is widely regarded 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). 

Dr. Carmack was recognized as George Mason University’s Department of Communication Alumnae of the Year in 2018. Her approach to well-being research, strategy and promotion is informed by her training in Health Communication (PhD, 2014, George Mason University), Kinesiology (MEd, 2009, University of Texas, Tyler), Theatre (MFA, 1991, University of Alabama) and Communication Arts (BA, 1989, Allegheny College). She also holds professional credentials as a trainer of Yoga Teachers (ERYT with Yoga Alliance since 2006) and Pilates Teachers (PMA-CPT since 2003). She is a Board-Certified Well-Being Coach and Coach Trainer with the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching, and trains (certifies) well-being coaches with her YogaMedCo.

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