Our Advisors
Wellcoaches collaborates with world-class health and wellness experts in the development of its programs.
Received her Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard University in 2001, where she continues to conduct research, teach, and advise undergraduates. Her research on creativity, psychopathology, and resilience has been widely published in both national and international scientific journals, and her findings have been featured on the Discovery Channel, CNN, NPR, the BBC, and Radio Free Europe. In addition, Dr. Carson’s work has been noted in magazines such as Newsweek, Scientific American, and Psychology Today.
Professor of Exercise & Sport Sciences at Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY. His research focuses on wellness programming and in 2011 he received a Harnisch Award for studying “The effects of Wellness Coaching on health behaviors in an employee population.” Dr. Sforzo is trained as an exercise physiologist and also holds certification as an exercise specialist as well as a health and wellness coach. He is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed publications and 100 professional presentations.
Dr. Tom Rifai is the CEO of Reality Meets Science, scaling up his innovative Flex5 lifestyle system proven effective at the Henry Ford Health System in Michigan. Dr. Rifai serves as Chair of the Employer Subcommittee for the American College of Lifestyle Medicine’s Clinical Practice and Quality Committee. He is a diplomate of both American Boards of Internal and Lifestyle Medicine and serves on the True Health Initiative Board of Directors.
Dr. Rifai served as Medical & Well-being Director for Magna International in the USA, providing elite level executive health coaching to the C-suite as well as programming to the manufacturing sites. Dr. Rifai served as Associate Medical Director of the renowned Pritikin Longevity Center in Miami, Florida, and spent over a decade on Pritikin’s science advisory committee. He continues to serve as lead educator on dietary fats and weight control for the Medicare-approved Pritikin Intensive Cardiac Rehabilitation Program, which is now running in over 100 hospital cardiac rehabilitation programs throughout the USA. He is past president of the American Board of Physician Nutrition Specialists.
An internationally recognized expert, physician, scientist and author in the fields of lifestyle and integrative medicine. Dr. Peeke is a Pew Foundation Scholar in nutrition and metabolism, and is a fellow of both the American College
of Physicians as well as Sports Medicine. Her New York Times bestselling books include Fight Fat after Forty, Body for Life for Women, and The Hunger Fix, the first consumer book on the science of food addiction. Serving as Chief Medical Correspondent for Discovery Health TV, Dr. Peeke is featured on the award winning National Body Challenge series and is the host of the Could You Survive? series, based upon her national bestseller Fit to Live. Dr. Peeke is the host of the HER podcast on iTunes, is a regular network medical news commentator, and is a columnist for US News and World Report, Huffington Post and Prevention.
Jennifer J. Wasco, DNP, RN
Assistant Professor of Nursing, Acute and Tertiary Care
Director, Professional Development & Continuing Education
University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing
The University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. Dr. Wasco serves as the accredited Provider Program Director for the School of Nursing’s Provider Unit. Her scholarly agenda focuses on curriculum development, learner engagement, innovative teaching strategies, and technology-based learning activities. She is a member of Sigma, the International Honor Society of Nursing, and the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments (ANHE). She holds the position of co-chair for the ANHE Education Forum. She has been published in Nurse Leader, Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, Nurse Educator, Nursing Forum, Journal of Doctoral Nursing Practice, Building Healthy Academic Communities Journal, and Creative Nursing.
Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Kinesiology and Health, Public Health, Physical Therapy, and Nutrition and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research (retired) at Georgia State University and a former Chairman of the American College of Sports Medicine's Committee on Certification and Registry Boards. Walt has been a member of the ACSM Board of Trustees and was twice elected to its Administrative Council before being elected President in 2017. He is the former Chair of the NSF International Joint Committee for Health Fitness Facilities Standards, and oversees the coach certification process. He is currently serving as the Executive Director of Committee on Accreditation for the Exercise Sciences (CoAES) of the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP).
Founder, President and Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Health Promotion, a peer reviewed journal established in 1986 that focuses on the science of lifestyle change. He has helped more than 100 employers, health care organizations, government agencies, foundations, and health promotion providers develop new and refine existing health promotion programs and has served in leadership roles in four major health systems.