Meet Dr. Suzie Carmack

Dr. Suzie Carmack is an award-winning well-being promotion scholar and the author of two #1 best sellers that bring the science of work/life well-being to the public: Well-Being Ultimatum and Genius Breaks. She is also the co-author (with Mason's Dr. Larry Cheskin) of the forthcoming Weight Loss for Life (Hopkins Press, 2021). She is world-renowned for her well-being advocacy efforts to destigmatize the practices of mindfulness, compassion, and yoga in the workplace, while raising global awareness of sitting disease as a population health issue.

Dr. Carmack serves as a Senior Scholar for the Center for the Advancement of Well-Being and as an Assistant Professor in Mason's Department of Global and Community Health, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in public health communication, leadership, advocacy, stakeholder engagement and well-being.  Her research and practice agenda aims to promote well-being by reducing the prevalence of burnout, compassion fatigue, maladaptive perfectionism, stress contagion and suicide through evidence-based teleyoga and telewellness interventions that promote mindfulness, movement and meaning (self-compassion).

As a trusted well-being advisor and executive yoga coach for senior leaders in the private and public sectors, Dr. Carmack has been personally commissioned to create well-being promotion programs and build well-being strategy frameworks for global and national public health agencies, including the Pan American / World Health Organization (2013-2015); the Department of Defense (2016; 2018); the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2016-2017); the National Parks Service (2015); and most recently the U.S. Treasury Department's Treasury Executive Institute (TEI). In 2018, she was personally commissioned by General James Michael Holmes, USAF (retired) to create the first-ever resilience training for senior leaders in the U.S. Air Force, and in 2020, she was personally commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department to create a well-being science webinar series for senior leaders (SES and GS14, GS15) from all 45 U.S. government agencies, during the rapid rise of Covid-19 (March - June 2020). She also led the award-winning stakeholder engagement efforts that brought the Cloud to the CDC as a shared service in 2016, and led the story-telling approach to the forthcoming U.S. Surgeon's General 2020 Report on Public Health, Community Development and Economic Prosperity. 

Dr. Carmack earned her PhD in health communication from George Mason University in 2014, as well as advanced degrees in theatre (MFA, 1991), kinesiology (2009), and communication arts (BA, 1989). As an ERYT (Trainer of Yoga Teachers) with the Yoga Alliance since 2006, and NBC-HWC with the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching since 2018, she has trained 3000+ Yoga Teachers and 108 health coaches internationally in her centered well-being coaching model and curriculum, inspired by her doctoral work (Carmack, 2014) exploring the role of sense-making, communication competence and social support in the co-creation of well-being.

Awards

• George Mason University
  • Department of Communication: Alumnae of the Year (2018)
  • Mason Core Award for Teaching Excellence (2017; 2019)
  • Difference Award for Teaching Excellence as Nominated by Students (2014)
  • Dissertation Grant (2014) George Mason University (Provost’s award)
  • Dean’s Challenge Award (2013), George Mason University (Faculty award)
  • Graduate Teaching Assistant and Funded Scholar (2011 - 2014)
• MITRE Corporation 
  • Program of the Year (2018)
  • Roar Award for Research Recognition (2017 & 2018)        
  • Director’s Award (2017)                   
• Junior League of Northern Virginia, Volunteer of the Year, (2014)
• Who’s Who in the World; Who’s Who in America (2006 - Present)
• U.S. President’s Volunteerism in Schools Award (2002)

Training and Education

• Health Coaching Institute: Executive Coaching Credential, an ICF Program (2020)
• National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching: Board-Certified Coach and Trainer of Coaches (2018)
• George Mason University: Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD), Health Communication (2014)
• University of Texas at TylerL Master of Education (Med), Health and Kinesiology (2009)
• University of Alabama: Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Theatre & Arts Management (1991)
• Allegheny College: Bachelor of Arts (BA), Theatre / Writing Minor (1989)