Dr. Craig Surman ’87: Fenn Set the Stage for a Career in Helping Others
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he most vivid images in Craig Surman’s imaginary photo album of his years at Fenn are these: toting his many binders with hole reinforcers on each page of filler paper; receiving his first organizer with his classmates (“I use one similar to it to this day.”); posting the weather conditions in the Stone Lobby for Mr. Hindle, who presented him with a weather radio at the end of the year; and sitting in All School Meeting one day when Mr. Miskell stood to address a transgression that had taken place and spoke to the boys about honor. “I blossomed at Fenn,” says Craig, who graduated in 1987 and went on to Concord Academy, Oberlin College, and the University of Massachusetts Medical School. “I had major organizational challenges and not a lot of self-esteem,” he explains, but during those years he received the kind of attention that “helped me figure out my strengths and weaknesses.” Ninth grade was his “glory lap,” Craig notes, adding that he was honored at commencement with the writing award, the math award, and a citizenship award “that I will never forget because Mr. Birge called me a Superman,” a compliment that rose in part from Craig’s taking a classmate who was having problems with his vision to the nurse’s office. Craig is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the scientific coordinator of the Adult ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, one of the largest research programs of its kind in the world. He has co-authored with Dr. Tim Bilkey and science writer Karen Weintraub Fast Minds: How to Thrive if You Have ADHD (Or Think You Might) (Berkeley, 2013), which offers strategies for people who struggle with ADHD traits or who simply want to tame their scattered, overwhelmed, and disorganized lives. The book was developed from clinical research and the success of both doctors’ patients. Dr. Surman is also the author of ADHD in Adults: A Practical Guide to Evaluation and Management, compiled with input from international collaborators, published last fall (Springer, 2012); this book provides advice for primary care
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doctors and other health care providers on understanding what symptoms of ADHD might look like in adults and covers diagnosis and treatment. Craig lectures and consults internationally. People often ask Craig how they or their children can cope with ADHD issues such as attention span problems and difficulties with organization. “Pills won’t always teach these skills,” he points out, because doctors know that dealing with ADHD symptoms does not simply involve a test and a diagnosis that lead within minutes to a prescription. Instead, “It’s the way the individuals tell their story,” he says. And it’s about helping those with ADHD “find an environment that is engaging and appealing,” and that offers a personalized approach. “If you can find what helps people feel effective and you give them enough time to do so, they’ll thrive,” he declares. “Fenn is a model of that kind of structure, and one I strive to internalize.”
“FENN HELPED ME FIGURE OUT MY STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES.” Craig believes that environment is an important element in the management of ADHD and that medical and nonmedical resources have vital roles in a treatment plan. He is working on the development of nutraceuticals—supplements and specific diets—and prescription drugs that cannot be abused, he says, referring to the high rate of college students without the disorder who procure ADHD meds to increase focus and productivity, a use that can prove dangerous. Craig’s wife, Weslie, is a former English teacher who studied to become a school psychologist, and the couple has two children, Lilah, who is six, and Evie, four. He was inspired to pursue psychiatry in part due to his father, Dr. Owen Surman, who has been affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital for nearly forty years. His dad would come home and talk about his work “and I thought, ‘What an awesome job!’ He gets to meet all kinds of people and help them,” Craig recalls. As a child who was “a nerd—terrible at sports—the kind who would score at the wrong end of the court,” but who would pen page upon page of description about a tree on campus for English and “over-research” every social studies paper he was assigned, Craig says, “I have always been interested in people who are different, facing some challenge, odd, strange, or brilliant. And I have always wanted to help them.”