Meet our Faculty

Certified Coaches

Eileen T. O’Grady PhD, RN, NP, PCC

Certified Nurse Practitioner and Coach;  Founder,  The School of Wellness

Dr. Eileen O’Grady, an Adult Nurse Practitioner and  Coach, has practiced primary care for over 2 decades. She is Founder of The School of Wellness, a group of practitioners dedicated to inspiring and providing  practical tools to organizations and  individuals to enable them to choose and practice wellbeing.   She is an author and editor of  the textbook, Advanced Practice Nursing: An Integrative Approach.  Her most recent book, Choosing Wellness: Unconventional Wisdom for the Overwhelmed, the Discouraged, the Addicted, the Fearful or the Stuck, is her most personal.  Dr. O’Grady holds three graduate degrees, a Master of Public Health from George Washington University, a Master of Science in Nursing and a Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing/Health Policy from George Mason University. She is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) through the International Coaching Federation. She has dual citizenship in Ireland and the United States but lives in the Washington DC area.

Jean E. Johnson, PhD, RN, FAAN   

Dean Emerita and Executive Coach

Dr. Jean E. Johnson, is Dean Emerita and Professor at The George Washington University School of Nursing, a school she founded and brought to national prominence. As an Adult Nurse Practitioner and Executive Coach she has spent her career helping students, faculty and staff move forward in their profession and life through education. Coaching compassionately and effectively is very important to her as she deepens her commitment to helping others find their path forward through coaching. She believes deeply in the magic and life-changing impact of coaching because it helps us look inward to our strengths and manage to limit our fears.
She has held a number of leadership positions, serving as president of the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties and of the American College of Nurse Practitioners and led a number of complicated projects national in scope such as developing primary care capacity in rural areas of the US. She is committed to improving health care quality and has led several efforts to address the national concern for the safety of patients. She has worked internationally to establish health care in the northern part of Haiti and through the Fulbright program to teach in the University of Cape Town’s Master’s pediatric clinical program to prepare nurse leaders to address the challenge of child health in Sub-Saharan Africa. She can be reached at Jejohns@gwu.edu.

Vernice Jones, MBA, PCC

Certified Executive Coach, and Certified Organizational and Relationship, Systems and Leadership Maturity Coaching

With over 20 years of experience working with global Fortune 500 companies and large nonprofits, Vernice Jones creates experiential programs that connect people to their best selves to get results. She has extensive experience working with people on 360 degree leadership assessments, personal and executive coaching and experiential learning. She helps people learn more about themselves, their leadership strengths and their impact. Vernice is known for designing highly engaging programs that bring forward the brilliance, insights and real-world experiences of participants. She believes firmly that one must lead the self-first, before leading others.
She has worked with companies such as Cargill, Nielsen, The Chicago Tribune, Newsday, Sikorsky Aircraft, Mitre, TASC, Girl Scouts of the USA, and Duke University’s Leadership Academy. She is currently a Learning Circle Advisor at Georgetown University for the Institute for Transformational Leadership’s Executive Certificate in Leadership Coaching.
Vernice holds an undergraduate degree in Economics, a graduate degree in Finance and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Maryland. She speaks English and is studying Mandarin Chinese. She is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) through the International Coaching Federation. Vernice is Founder and Principal of The Leadership Compass, a consulting firm that provides innovative leadership development solutions to individuals and organizations. More on Vernice. 

 

L. Gregory Pawlson, M.D., M.P.H.

Dr. Greg Pawlson is currently an International Coaching Federation and Hudson Institute Certified Executive and Life coach and a fellow of the Institute of Coaching. He also serves as a clinical professor in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences and as an adjunct professor in the School of Nursing at The George Washington University. Dr. Pawlson coaching clients range from first year medical residents to Deans, Department Chairs and CEO’s with the single focus of helping each individual, team or organization find and hold their passion and values within healthcare.  Drawing on his long experience in patient care, education and quality improvement, as well as on coaching, his approach to coaching is based on the belief that the truest and most valuable insights into understanding critical issues, and finding creative solutions, lies within individuals and organizations within healthcare. Additionally, while formal leadership is a critical component of fostering positive change, like quality improvement, optimal function and wellness is best considered as a team sport. More on Greg at Greg Pawlson Coaching.

Eva R. Schmidt, APRN, FNP-BC, NBC-HWC

Certified Nurse Practitioner and Health and Wellness Coach 

Eva Schmidt is a certified Family Nurse Practitioner and nationally certified Health and Wellness Coach. She incorporates evidence-based coaching skills in her 12 years as a primary care provider. She has helped many patients successfully reduce chronic disease risk or to reverse their symptoms. As the former co-owner of a large family practice, she became passionate about including health coaching to reduce risk and greatly mitigate the burden of chronic disease.

In addition to working with The School of Wellness, she is the Clinical Director and Provider for Marathon Health, an employer-sponsored wellness center in Eugene Oregon, where she provides health coaching imbedded with primary care services. She has expertise in metabolic syndrome, culinary medicine and cooking demonstrations, and she teaches mindfulness to all kinds of individuals, including first responders and parole and probation officers. She is certified through the International Consortium for Health and Wellness Coaching.

Carol Vernon 

Certified Executive Coach, Owner,  Communication Matters: Executive Coaching & Training 

Carol Vernon is an ICF certified executive coach who helps organization leaders and teams elevate their executive presence and communication and management skills in order to grow their impact. Carol was inspired to do this work after years of observing that doing your job well isn’t enough. Without a strong leadership presence and fine-tuned skills, leaders and team can’t achieve their full potential or the results they seek.

Previously, Carol was a senior leader in the telecommunications industry and prior to that she served as a congressional aide and worked in many political campaigns, helping elected officials and candidates communicate their leadership visions more effectively. And since 2008, she serves as the leadership communications coach for The Campaign School at Yale University.

Carol holds a bachelor’s degree in English and communications from Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA and did her graduate work in communications at Temple University, Philadelphia. Learn more about Carol at Communication Matters.

 

Content Experts 

Functional Medicine

Erin J. Bagshaw, RN, MSN, BC-ANP

Owner and Founder, Northwest Nurse Practitioner Associates, Inc in Washington DC. 

Ms. Bagshaw is the owner and founder of Northwest Nurse Practitioner Associates, Inc in Washington DC.  Opened in 2004, this was the first Primary Care Nurse Practitioner-owned practice in Washington, D.C.  and the first Nurse Practitioner to be granted hospital privileges at John Hopkins Sibley Memorial Hospital.

After almost 20 years of practice and three generations of patients, chronic diseases seemed more and more prevalent, particularly auto-immune and gut dysfunction without an identifiable etiology.  Frustrated with the limitations of Primary Care testing and treatments, she attended a talk given by Cleveland Clinic on Functional Medicine.

Functional Medicine is a science-based approach that recognizes biochemical individuality and can uncover the biomarkers and lifestyle impacts that trigger and promote disease.  Functional Medicine considers the entirety of a patient’s health time-line from birth, which aligns with her philosophy on individualized health.  Her practice has now shifted with a focus on Functional Medicine which also includes advanced lab testing, specialized nutrition recommendations, and treatment plans not available in traditional Primary Care.  This approach has proven far more effective in disease reversal and prevention.

Ms. Bagshaw has completed training in Functional Medicine from the Institute for Functional Medicine and her practices specializes in bridging conventional care with Functional Medicine, the most complete care possible.

Ms. Bagshaw also holds a Certificate in Travel Health (CTH) from the International Society of Travel Medicine and is also a Certified Medical Legal Consultant.  Both of these are utilized in her practice for her patients;  tropical disease pre-travel consultations for prevention of disease and safe travel to anywhere in the world and to maintain the highest standard of care practice guidelines for all services provided within her practice. Find out more at Northwest Nurse Practitioner Associates 

 

End of Life

Paul Tschudi, Ed.S., M.A., LPC (1947-2021)   Memoriam 

Paul passed away tragically in a house fire in 2021.  I do not yet have the heart to remove this, so it stays.  He had a huge heart and impacted many lives.  

Paul Tschudi has over 25 years of experience working with people facing grief, loss and life transitions. He maintained a private counseling practice for over 15 years before his faculty appointment at the George Washington University. His interest in end-of-life issues was born out of the experience of serving as a medic in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970. Paul began developing and teaching courses on grief, loss and life transition in 1994 when he developed the first counseling course that focused on grief and loss. This eventually led to both graduate and undergraduate courses, focused on resilience and normalizing the journey through life transitions with a client-centered approach rather the diagnostic/medical model approach. He has worked extensively with the Veteran community. He is a licensed counselor in DC. Paul serves on the Advisory Boards of the Wendt Center for Loss and Healing, Tragedy Assistance Programs for Survivors (TAPS) and Hospice Foundation of America. He is a sought after lecturer, story teller and workshop facilitator.