AUTHOR OF CRAMP

Andrew ShulmanMD, PhD

Division Chief and Medical Director of Pediatric Rheumatology
Physician-Scientist · Complex Pain Expert

He knows chronic pain from both sides of the exam table: as a physician caring for children and teens with complex pain, and as a patient who has lived with its challenges himself.

Cramp: A Doctor's Notes on Pain

A forthcoming work of narrative nonfiction about chronic pain, medicine, and living fully beyond the search for a cure.

In Cramp, Dr. Shulman brings together the stories of his young patients and the science of how the body and brain shape pain in its many forms. What emerges is a portrait of pain that can be named but not always understood, and of the people who live in that gap.

Cramp offers real science and hard-won insight, but its heart is in their stories and his own: honest, human accounts that help anyone living with pain feel seen, understood, and less alone.

Writing that bridges medicine, science, and human experience, where symptoms are real, answers seldom simple, and listening matters most.

About Dr. Shulman

In my practice of pediatric rheumatology, I am grateful to have the opportunity to bring insight from my training as a physician-scientist, clinical knowledge distilled from brilliant mentors and my years of careful observation, and empathy from my own experience as a person with a rare health condition. My visits with our amazing kids and their families are a space for listening, learning, formulating questions, seeking answers, and discovering ways to thrive. Being part of my patients’ healing journeys is the privilege of a lifetime.

ANDREW SHULMAN, MD, PhD

Dr. Shulman is Division Chief and Medical Director of Pediatric Rheumatology at Rady Children’s Health Orange County (formerly CHOC), and teaches at the University of California, Irvine. He cares for children and teens living with autoimmune and inflammatory disease: juvenile arthritis, lupus, dermatomyositis, vasculitis, and patients with mysterious symptoms that elude diagnosis. Colleagues refer patients with pain that doesn’t fit a pattern, the amplification syndromes where the symptoms are unmistakable but the cause remains elusive.

As an undergraduate at Harvard College, Dr. Shulman had the opportunity to pursue interests in both the humanities and molecular biology. He earned his MD and a PhD in cell regulation at UT Southwestern. He trained in pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, then returned to UT Southwestern to complete his fellowship in pediatric rheumatology. He is board certified in pediatrics and pediatric rheumatology. His research has been published in Cell and the New England Journal of Medicine, in Nature Communications and the Journal of Clinical Investigation, and in Arthritis & Rheumatology, the flagship journal of the American College of Rheumatology.

A diagnosis is the first step, not the destination.

Pain is never just physical. It is one of the most common reasons families seek medical care, and one of the hardest experiences to measure. For a child living with chronic pain, the search for answers can be long, confusing, and deeply personal, especially when the tests come back normal but the symptoms are real.

An accurate diagnosis is essential. Dr. Shulman brings clinical experience and scientific training to the questions that do not have simple answers. Why is pain so often dismissed? What does it mean to be believed? And how can children and families continue to live fully when medicine cannot offer a cure?

1 in 5

Children and adolescents worldwide live with chronic pain

Chambers et al., PAIN, 2024

1 in 4

American adults live with chronic pain

CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, 2024

$723B

Annual cost of chronic pain in the United States

Guy et al., Medical Care, 2025

Areas of Focus

Dr. Shulman’s work centers on the medical, scientific, and human dimensions of chronic pain.

Pediatric Rheumatology

Pediatric Chronic Pain

Undiagnosed Chronic Illness

Pain Science

Dysautonomia and POTS

Narrative Medicine

Pain Amplification Syndromes

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

Long COVID and Post-Viral Illness

Media & Speaking

Dr. Shulman is available as an expert voice on pediatric chronic pain, pediatric rheumatology, pain science, Long COVID and post-viral illness, and medical uncertainty.

He speaks to medical, parent, patient, and general audiences with a perspective grounded in clinical care, scientific training, and his own experience living with chronic pain.

Available for interviews, commentary, and speaking engagements.