Board of Directors

Beverley H. Johnson, FAAN is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care (IPFCC) in Bethesda, MD. She has provided technical assistance and consultation for advancing the practice of patient- and family-centered care and creating effective partnerships with patients and families to over 300 hospitals, health systems, federal, state, provincial agencies, military treatment facilities, and community organizations.

Bev served on the inaugural Advisory Board for the American College of Physicians’ Center for Patient Partnership in Healthcare. She also served on the Board of Directors for the Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) from 2012-2021 and the Board of Directors for the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) form 2017-2021. She currently serves on the Selection Committee for the American Hospital Association’s Quest for Quality Prize and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Countering the U.S. Opioid Epidemic.

Elizabeth Crocker, MEd, serves as Vice President of the IPFCC Board. Liz is an experienced businessperson and is the founder and owner of Canada’s oldest children’s bookstore and the former owner of a network of stores specializing in environmentally sound products. In addition, she has been a Clinical Teaching Associate with the Learning Resource Centre at Dalhousie University working as a Simulated Patient with medical students. She has created and directed a large Child Life Department, served as Treasurer and President of the Board of the Association for the Care of Children’s Health, and was President of the Canadian Institute for Child Health. Liz has been a hospital trustee and now serves on the board of a hospital foundation. Liz is also a Board Member of the Saskatchewan Health Quality Council.

In the past, Liz has been a broadcaster and journalist, worked in the political arena, and mentored young entrepreneurs. She is the lead author for Privileged Presence: Personal Stories of Connection in Health Care, which is now in its second edition. She is also the lead author of the book, Transforming Memories, Sharing Spontaneous Writing Using Loaded Words. Liz is a fun-loving grandmother to three children.

Terri L. Shelton, PhD, is the Treasurer of the IPFCC Board. Terri is the Vice Chancellor of Research and Engagement and the Carol Jenkins Mattocks Distinguished Professor at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In that role, she oversees the advancement of research, research administration, research integrity, innovation and commercialization, interdisciplinary, campus-wide research centers and community and economic engagement. Her scholarly impact includes over 75 publications and over $40 million in grants and contracts. Her scholarly work focuses on building the capacity of communities, families and youth, service providers, researchers, and policymakers through partnerships that bridge research, policy, and evidence-based practice, ensuring healthy lives and vibrant communities. She is co-author of Assessing Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Family-Centered Care for Children Needing Specialized Developmental Services. In 2022, she received the Hiram E. Fitzgerald Distinguished Engaged Scholar Award from the Engagement Scholarship Consortium in recognition of her contributions as a community engaged scholar.

William E. Schwab, MD serves as Secretary of the IPFCC Board. Bill is Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health (DFMCH) at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH). He is additionally Assistant Dean for Graduate Medical Education at SMPH. His current roles also include directing a state-funded initiative to address the shortage of physicians practicing in small communities, providing consultations nationally to support the development of rural residency programs, and co-leading a new LGBTQ+ Health fellowship program funded by the AMA Foundation. Bill has previously served as Interim Chair of the DFMCH and as director of its Madison Family Medicine Residency Program. He is also a past member of the Board of Directors of the University of Wisconsin Medical Foundation, the group practice organization for the more than 1400 medical school faculty clinicians at the University of Wisconsin.

An active clinician and teacher, Bill is also a nationally recognized leader in patient- and family-centered care as well as in medical education about the care of children and adults with chronic illness and disabilities. He has been on the teaching faculty of more than 30 intensive seminars presented by IPFCC on advancing patient- and family-centered care in medical education, community services, ambulatory health care, and hospitals. He has additionally been the principle investigator for research projects funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and by the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau. Bill has been the recipient of the Humanism in Medicine Award from the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine jointly with the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, the Educator of the Year Award from the Wisconsin Academy of Family Physicians, and the Baldwin E. Lloyd, MD, Clinical Teacher of the Year Award from the University of Wisconsin Department of Family Medicine.

Cherie Craft, MEd, is Member-at-Large on the IPFCC Board. Cherie is founder, CEO and Executive Director of Smart from the Start, and holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology. In 2007, Cherie founded the strengths-based, community-driven child and family service, widely recognized national organization, Smart from the Start. Having grown up in an inner-city Boston housing development, and raising five children of her own, Cherie possesses a passionate commitment to working tirelessly to better the lives of under-served children and families struggling with undiagnosed/untreated trauma, formerly incarcerated returning citizens, along with children, youth and families representing marginalized populations. Her early professional experience includes working in the Department of Pediatrics at Boston Medical Center, the US Administration for Children and Families, as well as in senior leadership positions with community-based organizations.

Cherie is considered an expert in the field of early childhood education, community organizing, family engagement and empowerment, cultural competence, diversity, equity and inclusion as well as mental health and wellness. She has addressed audiences both nationally and internationally presenting upon a wide range of topics, specifically focused on addressing the social determinants of health and advancing the causes of equity and equality. Cherie served on the Boston Children’s Hospital Community Advisory Board, as a member of the National Expert Panel on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare, and for the past 25 years, has been senior faculty with IPFCC. Cherie now serves as a member of the Washington DC Mayor’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee, and as the Early Childhood Content Expert for the DC Department of Health’s Maternal/Child Health Service Council. She is a member of the NAACP, National Urban League, National Fathers and Families Coalition, and International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect.