Dr. Pawlson has held senior positions in academic medicine, public policy, and non profit organizations.  He is currently a Hudson Institute certified executive and life coach, senior faculty and executive coach with Lodestar Coaching, the Leadership Institute at UCSF, the Leadership Life Skills course at Mt Sinai in NY, and as an executive coach for the National Academy of Sciences. His professional affiliations include clinical professor in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences and adjunct professor in the School of Nursing at George Washington University and as a professional fellow of the Institute of Coaching, of McLean Hospital at Harvard University 

Earlier in his career, Dr. Pawlson was involved in Academic Medicine for nearly 25 years, serving as Senior Associate Vice President for Health Affairs and Medical Director for Quality and Utilization Management for the faculty practice at The George Washington University Medical Center. Prior to these posts, he was chairman of the University’s Department of Health Care Sciences (clinical primary care and public health) and Director of the Institute for Health Policy, Outcomes and Human Values. During his time in academic medicine, he also served as a Robert Wood Johnson Policy Fellow on the staff of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and as a Fellow in the Center for the Study of Change in Academic Medicine at the American Association of Medical Colleges. While on the Senate Finance Committee staff, he worked in the office of George Mitchell, D-Me, on bills related to Medicare expansion and drug benefit, nursing and medical workforce issues and on nursing home reform.  

After leaving academic medicine in 2000, he served for twelve years as Executive Vice President of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). While at NCQA, Dr. Pawlson led the development of NCQA research, quality measurement, and related grant and contracting activities, overseeing the ongoing development of the widely used HEDIS clinical performance measures. He also worked on the development of assessment and quality improvement programs for the Patient Centered Medical Homes and Accountable Care Organizations, and served as liaison for NCQA to physician groups, including the AMA-led Physician Consortium for Practice Improvement, the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Finally he served as Executive Director for Quality Innovation for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Washington DC,

Dr. Pawlson was also active in organized medicine serving as President and Chairman of the Board of the American Geriatrics Society, and on the Boards of the Society of General Internal Medicine, the American College of Medical Quality, the American Board of Medical Quality, the Bon Secours Health System, the U.S. Soldiers and Airman’s Home and as Chair of the Advisory Group for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) Innovations Exchange. He is the author of over 100 peer-reviewed articles and numerous other publications including a text book, Eliminating Errors and Improving Quality, written with his wife Jean Johnson PhD, FAAN and an editor and co-author of the soon-to-be-published (sping 2026) book, Dynamic Leadership and Coaching: ‘A Handbook for .Developing Exceptional Leaders in Turbulent Times. .Dr. Pawlson is board-certified in internal medicine and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, the American Geriatrics Society, in the past of the Gerontological Society of America, and the American College of Preventive Medicine.

He received a B.A., cum laude, from The Pennsylvania State University, an M.D. with Distinction from the University of Pittsburgh, he did his internship and residency at Stanford University, and was an endocrine fellow and then Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar while obtaining an M.P.H. in Community Medicine at the University of Washington. He and his wife Jean Johnson PhD, FAAN,  Founding Dean Emeritus of the George Washington University School of Nursing, have four children, seven grandchildren, and resides in Cabin John, Maryland.