Dr. Pawlson has held senior positions in academic medicine, public policy/governmental organizations and the payer community. His primary focus is now on Executive Coaching and leadership development, and he is a coach for the National Academy of Science/National Academy of Medicine Fellowship Programs.
At present, Dr. Pawlson’s primary focus is on Executive Coaching. He is a Hudson Institute certified executive and life coach, and a fellow member of the nstitute of Coaching at McClain Hospital, Harvard University. Dr. Pawlson works primarily with healthcare executives, government leaders, academic deans and department chairs, as well as residents and fellows, the latter on a pro bono basis. He is also a coach for the National Academy of Science/National Academy of Medicine Fellowship Programs. As part of his interest in this area, Dr.Pawlson has obtained certification in positive psychology, resilience and grit from the Center for Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. He is an ICF Certified Executive Coach, and Fellow of the Institute of Coaching at Harvard McClean Hospital.
His other current focus is the development of a year long leadership and life skills course for Fellows from across the US who are enrolled in Geriatrics and Palliative Care Fellowships. The course includes a wide range of leadership skills built on a foundation of core life skills including emotional intelligence, mindfulness, and positive psychology. The effort is in concert with Helen Fernandez MD at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in NY, and Lynn Flint MD at the University of California, San Francisco and is supported by the American Geriatrics Society. He also designed and taught an 3 credit on line course on Financing, Reimbursement and Cost in the DNP program at George Washington University. He holds current academic appointments as a clinical professor in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences and as an adjunct professor in the School of Nursing at George Washington University, In addition, he and his wife, Jean Johnson, PhD, FAAN, the founding Dean of the School of Nursing at GW, created and implemented a Cousera based course on Leadership for Quality and Safety that has had over 10,000 enrollees, and have co-authored a textbook on quality and safety scheduled for release in the fall of 2020, entitled Protecting Patients, Improving Care: Advancing Healthcare Quality and Safety. Finally Dr. Pawlson currently serves is a Senior Medical Consultant for Saxton Stump LLC and SE Healthcare Quality Consulting, focusing on malpractice defense, patient safety and quality improvement.
Before his “preferment” Dr. Pawlson served as Executive Director for Quality Innovation for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Washington DC, for two years and prior to that as Executive Vice President of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), for twelve years. While at NCQA, he 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.
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 these posts at GW, 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 within 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.
Dr. Pawlson has also been 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 forthcoming text book, Eliminating Errors and Improving Quality, written with his wife Jean Johnson PhD, FAAN. .Dr. Pawlson is board certified in internal medicine and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, the American Geriatrics Society, The Gerontological Society of America and the American College of Preventive Medicine. He received his BS degree., cum laude, from The Pennsylvania State University, an M.D. with Distinction from the University of Pittsburgh, did his internship and residency at Stanford University, He then served as a staff fellow in the Metabolism Branch of the National Heart institute and an endocrine fellow and 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 have four children, sevengrandchildren and reside in Cabin John Maryland and Lake Anna, Virginia.