OUR ADVISORS
Wellcoaches collaborates with world-class health and wellness experts in the development of its programs.
Shelley Carson, Neuroscience Advisor
Michael O'Donnell, Founding Advisor
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.
Pamela Peeke, Chief Medical Advisor
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.
Gary Sforzo, Research Advisor
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.
Walter Thompson, Founding Advisor, ACSM Liaison
Regents’ Professor of Kinesiology and Nutrition at Georgia State University and a past Chairman of the American College of Sports Medicine's Committee on Certification and Education. Walt has been a member of the ACSM Board of Trustees and was twice elected to its Administrative Council. He currently serves as the Chair of the NSF International Joint Committee for Health Fitness Facilities Standards, and oversees the coach certification process.
Mary Rodgers Schubert, Nursing Continuing Professional Development Advisor
Director of Professional Development and Continuing Nursing Education at the 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. Mary serves as the Leader Nurse Planner for the provider unit. She is on the editorial advisory board of the Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, is a member of the American Organization of Nursing Leaders, and Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing.Blaine Wilson, Global Strategy Development Consultant
MS, CEP, CPHWC
Blaine joined Wellcoaches in 2003 and is a 35-year veteran of the healthcare and wellness industry, having program experience in both the U.S and Asia. He advises on international business development, programming, behavioral outcomes and research. As someone who has witnessed the growth of health and wellness coaching internationally, he is focused on seeing the widespread integration of Credentialed Lifestyle Medicine Coaches to expand the horizons and limitations of solely providing education in healthcare and worksite wellness. Blaine is an ACSM Certified Clinical Exercise Physiologist and received his Undergraduate degree in Exercise Science, with a minor in Psychology, and his Graduate degree in Cardiac Rehabilitation and Primary Prevention. All of his work is driven by personal characteristics of leadership, creativity, open-mindedness and the cultivation of hope. Blaine brings a focused and crafted perspective to gap theory to practice with organizations initiating scientific based health coaching programs. He currently calls Texas home and has previously resided in Macau and Panama.