Susan Goshgarian McGrew has always had a passion for art … a seed planted by her mother and nurtured as Susan was growing up in the Boston neighborhood where her grandparents had emigrated from Armenia. She found she also had an interest in working with children which led her, after her graduation from the University of Vermont, to Northwestern University School of Medicine and a focus on pediatrics.

 

McGrew came to Nashville for a pediatric internship and residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. After a brief fellowship in pediatric cardiology, which she found demanded too intense a schedule to balance with the needs of her small daughters, she chose to enter private pediatric practice, seeing patients at Green Hills Children’s Clinic for 10 years. It was during this period that her interest in autism developed into a new passion.

 

“As I saw more children with a diagnosis of autism, I realized it was not so rare a condition — and that for parents, there was no place to go for help when their child had received the diagnosis. There were adequate places for diagnosis but not many places to receive treatment,” she said.

 

“The parents asked — and pushed — to get help to help their children,” McGrew continued.

 

About 10 years ago, McGrew left private practice to join the work begun by Wendy Stone, PhD, professor of pediatrics and director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders (TRIAD), to improve assessment and treatment services for children with autism.

 

McGrew said the scope of the work done at TRIAD with the support of Vanderbilt Medical Center, is unusual for a city the size of Nashville.

 

“Most of this work is being done at centers in bigger cities,” she said, “Nashville is one of the smaller cities with this comprehensive a program. Many large studies are conducted here that might usually be done in larger centers.

 

“For instance,” she continued, “I see children from five states.”

 

McGraw is married to a gastroenterologist and has two daughters who are now adults who share her passions. “I’ve always been interested in the arts and science, and both of my children are drawn to these fields — one daughter is a painter in Houston, and the other works in genetic research at Vanderbilt University Hospital.”

 

In the early 1999s, McGrew began following her early love of painting at a more serious level and participating in shows of her work by 1998.

 

By the time she made the move from private practice to TRIAD, her children had graduated from high school so she was able to devote more time to painting. Now her time at TRIAD is limited to long 12-hour days on Mondays and Tuesdays, which gives her larger blocks of time during the rest of the week to pursue her other passions.

 

“I can turn over parts of the clinical practice to younger physicians. There are a lot of things that are changing, and as I begin to have more of a research focus, I am excited about bigger breakthroughs on the horizon that we need to get sorted out. As we learn more about the genetics of the disorder from human research studies, we may be able to design specific treatment approaches targeting the specific metabolic abnormalities. Animal models have already provided some promising approaches in some genetic subgroups,” she said.

 

“I’m pretty excited and expect accelerations in research can lead to a number of improvements in how we help children with ASD,” McGrew added.

 

She noted her new schedule gives her the flexibility to concentrate on her painting while consolidating her research time. “Actually,” she laughed, “it is rare for me to have a whole day without painting. I guess you could say it turns out I find a way to paint every day!”

 

She has participated in ongoing classes at the Cheekwood Museum of Art and shown her work in a number of solo exhibitions at the Parthenon, The Renaissance Center in Dickson, Cheekwood, and Vanderbilt Hospital Mezzanine Gallery.

 

“I am captivated by water and view waterways as literal and metaphysical expressions of life,” McGrew explained. Her river series paintings, assembled as Tennessee Waterways: From the Little Harpeth River to the Cumberland Plateau, was displayed at the University School of Nashville; and Flying Solo: The Little Harpeth River Series greeted visitors to the Nashville International Airport. Currently her works are featured in a two-person show, “An Intimate View of Nature” at the Marnie Sheridan Gallery at the Harpeth Hall School until April 15.

 

Susan’s family has long enjoyed a home in Clifftops on the Cumberland Plateau, “an area that is reminiscent of the area where I grew up” she noted. McGrew often hikes to new sites in remote settings and finds the landscape a continual source of inspiration and challenge. One of her most recent shows, “New Paintings: Fiery Gizzard Series,” celebrates that pristine wilderness area near her home.

 

McGrew commented, “By focusing on capturing the vitality of natural settings through onsite watercolor and graphite studies, I find I can get a more emotional reaction into the work. I try to capture the movement of the water, as well as the ambiance of the surrounding flora.”

 

“I see my paintings as depicting life; anchored and nourished but also challenged. I use the tension of opposing colors, as well as the careful treatment of light to translate the energy of the natural world into movement on my canvas.”

 

Although she was discussing a broken cell phone at the time, when McGrew observed, “I believe in fixing things — I don’t believe in throwing them away,” she articulated the guiding philosophy echoed in both of her vocations.