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In the News

Dr. Andrew Shulman is available for interviews, expert commentary, podcast conversations, and press inquiries on pediatric and adult chronic pain, pediatric rheumatology, pain science, medical uncertainty, Long COVID and post-viral illness, and the lived experience of chronic illness.

Dr. Shulman is Division Chief and Medical Director of Pediatric Rheumatology at Rady Children’s Health Orange County (formerly CHOC), a Health Sciences Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, Irvine, and the author of the forthcoming book Cramp: A Doctor’s Notes on Pain. He brings an uncommon perspective to conversations about pain: clinical experience, scientific training, and his own life as someone living with a chronic pain condition. He is at ease making complex medicine clear for general, professional, and academic audiences.

Selected Press

Pain Amplification Syndrome, American Health Journal

In this news segment for The American Health Journal, Dr. Andrew Shulman offers a clear overview of pain amplification syndrome in children and dispels common misconceptions about its origins, helping viewers better understand this frequently misdiagnosed condition.

Are Growing Pains Real? Orange County Register

In this feature, Dr. Andrew Shulman notes that while childhood “growing pains” are usually benign mechanical issues triggered by activity, pain that worsens in the morning rather than after exertion is a “red flag” that may indicate arthritis.

Expert Commentary and Interview Topics

Dr. Shulman speaks clearly and accessibly about complex medical topics for general audiences, parent communities, health journalists, science writers, podcasters, and broadcast media. His commentary spans pediatric rheumatology, juvenile arthritis and autoimmune disease, pain science, and mind-body approaches to chronic illness. A few of the subjects he is available to discuss:

Why Pain Can Be Real When the Tests Are Normal

For many patients and families, the hardest part of chronic pain is hearing that nothing appears to be wrong. Dr. Shulman explains why pain can be real, disruptive, and medically significant even when routine testing does not identify a cause.

Children, Teens, and Chronic Pain

Chronic pain in young people affects school, sports, friendships, family life, and mental health. Dr. Shulman addresses how families and clinicians can understand pediatric pain without dismissing or oversimplifying it.

The Sensitive Nervous System

Pain amplification syndromes, complex regional pain syndrome, and dysautonomia often involve changes in how the nervous system processes signals. He describes these conditions in plain, non-technical language.

Pain That Begins in Childhood and Follows Into Adulthood

Chronic pain that begins in childhood is often unrecognized for years and carried into adulthood. Dr. Shulman traces what a pediatric perspective reveals about adult chronic pain and why understanding how these conditions begin can change how they are treated across a lifetime.

Long COVID and Post-Viral Illness

Long COVID and other post-viral illnesses have drawn new attention to symptoms that are difficult to measure yet deeply disruptive: pain, fatigue, dizziness, and brain fog. He links these conditions to patterns long familiar in pediatric rheumatology and chronic pain care.

Chronic Pain and the Athlete

From a clinician who is also a lifelong athlete: what it means to live and perform with pain, the culture of playing through it, and what genuine recovery looks like when pushing harder is not the answer.

Narrative Medicine and the Stories Behind Illness

Medicine has a long tradition of physician-writers who bring the tools of literature to the practice of care. Dr. Shulman discusses what narrative medicine is, why a patient’s story is central to good diagnosis, and how writing about illness can help patients and clinicians alike.

Living Well When There Is No Cure

For many chronic conditions, medicine can manage but not cure. Dr. Shulman considers what it means to build a full life alongside ongoing symptoms, for patients of any age.

The Doctor Who Became a Patient

Dr. Shulman’s forthcoming book, Cramp: A Doctor’s Notes on Pain, draws on both his medical practice and his experience with chronic pain. The book explores what changes when a physician becomes a patient and how that shift sharpens the questions medicine must ask about pain and resilience.

Media Bio

Dr. Andrew Shulman is a pediatric rheumatologist, physician-scientist, and author of the forthcoming Cramp: A Doctor’s Notes on Pain. He serves as Division Chief and Medical Director of Pediatric Rheumatology at Rady Children’s Health Orange County (formerly CHOC) and as a Health Sciences Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, Irvine. His work explores children’s chronic pain, pain science, pediatric rheumatology, medical uncertainty, and what it means to live well when medicine offers no easy answers.

For Journalists and Producers

For interviews, expert commentary, podcast requests, or press inquiries, please use the contact form. Dr. Shulman is available to discuss any of the topics above and related topics.