Leadership

Tara Schwab, CRCR, CHAM, CLSSBB

Vice President

Tara Schwab brings more than 17 years of healthcare experience to her role as Vice President of The Eighth Leaf Project, with a background spanning healthcare operations, revenue cycle management, patient access, process improvement, and regulatory-focused workflow development. As a healthcare leader, she has focused on improving complex systems, developing sustainable processes, mentoring teams, and turning data and research into practical solutions that can improve outcomes for patients and communities.

Tara is a Six Sigma Black Belt in healthcare and has extensive experience identifying process gaps, analyzing data, developing standard operating procedures, and leading improvement initiatives across healthcare environments. Her work has included healthcare access, insurance verification, claims and denial prevention, quality assurance, and the development of processes designed to improve both organizational performance and the patient experience.

Her approach to leadership is rooted in the belief that meaningful change happens when research, data, and lived experience are translated into solutions that people and communities can actually use. This perspective aligns closely with The Eighth Leaf Project’s mission of exploring the connections between environmental health, medicinal plants, soil and water quality, and community well-being.

As Vice President, Tara supports the organization’s strategic development, community outreach, research collaboration, educational initiatives, and operational growth. She is particularly interested in building connections among researchers, healthcare professionals, farmers, universities, community organizations, and individuals affected by environmental health concerns.

Tara is also passionate about creating accessible educational resources that help communities better understand environmental risks and potential solutions. Through The Eighth Leaf Project, she hopes to help build a transparent network where research findings, community observations, and emerging plant-based approaches to environmental restoration can be shared and connected.

Her leadership philosophy is simple: take complicated problems, bring the right people together, and build practical solutions that can make a difference.

Virginia Erwin, MS

Secretary/Treasurer

Virginia Erwin, MS, brings more than 20 years of medical laboratory science experience to her role as Secretary and Treasurer of The Eighth Leaf Project. She currently serves as the Section Head for Hematology, Coagulation, and Urinalysis at Aspen Valley Health, where she oversees diagnostic operations, staff training, and quality control to support accurate patient care in a rural healthcare setting.

Before stepping into leadership, Virginia spent over a decade as a travel medical laboratory scientist, working in 13 hospitals across the United States from small critical access facilities to major trauma centers. This experience developed her reputation for adaptability, precision, and strong clinical leadership during urgent staffing shortages.

Virginia holds a Master of Science in Medical Laboratory Science. She is certified as a Medical Laboratory Scientist (MLS) and holds advanced credentials in laboratory management, Lean Healthcare, and Lean Six Sigma (Yellow and Green Belt).

Beyond her professional expertise, Virginia’s connection to The Eighth Leaf Project is deeply personal. Once a foster child herself, she joined Brenda’s family at age five and was later adopted as a teenager. Her journey fuels her dedication to the organization’s mission of improving community health, environmental safety, and opportunities for vulnerable populations.

Brenda Schwab, CPMSM, CPCS

Founder & President

Brenda Schwab brings over 35 years of experience in healthcare administration, research oversight, and regulatory compliance to The Eighth Leaf Project. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Healthcare Administration. She also is nationally certified as a Certified Provider Credentialing Specialist (CPCS) and Certified Medical Staff Manager (CPMSM), with extensive experience supporting Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) and ensuring ethical, compliant research practices in major hospital systems.

A lifelong advocate for vulnerable children, Brenda served as a foster parent and adoptive parent and was featured on the cover of Parade Magazine in 1988 in the article “Who Speaks for the Lost Children.” She also collaborated with Marcia Robinson Lowry and the ACLU Children’s Rights Project during their class action lawsuit against the State of Louisiana, serving as Next Friend for her adopted daughter, Stacy. Her involvement contributed to reforms enforcing Public Law 96-272, ensuring that children in foster care receive permanent placement plans within eighteen months.

Brenda founded The Eighth Leaf Project after discovering thousands of wild Great Mullein plants on her 73-acre farm in Robeson County, NC. What began as curiosity grew into a mission-driven initiative focused on medicinal plant research, environmental health, soil and water quality, and community education. Today she leads the organization’s scientific, environmental, and advocacy efforts with a blend of compassion, credibility, and lived experience.