Fall 2002

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Stephanie Sarkis is focused on attention deficit disorder

by David Payne

When Stephanie Moulton Sarkis, TEL 1994, was seven years old, she witnessed an event that changed her life.

Her two-year-old brother, Bill, ran into a busy Chicago street where he was hit by a taxi. She said he “bounced” off the taxi and kept running as if nothing had happened because he had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Sarkis said, “After seeing that, I decided I wanted to help people with ADHD.”

In August, Sarkis received her Ph.D. in mental health counseling at UF, completing her dissertation on ADHD.

Some day Sarkis would like to use her telecom degree to help children with ADHD. She said children are “so influenced” by television that she could hopefully begin consulting for children’s TV, developing programming that would teach children “tolerance and acceptance” toward children with the disorder.

Currently, Sarkis counsels adults and children with ADHD at her Lake City office and also works at Alachua Family Psychiatry Clinical Trials in Gainesville.

After determining if a child has a disorder, Sarkis said she helps parents cope with it, teaching them guidance techniques to make it easier on them and other children.

Sarkis said she is simply trying to “help the productivity and happiness” of persons with the disorders.

“I’ve found people who were really bright but were failing and couldn’t stay in their seats,” Sarkis said. “Now, they’re getting straight As. That’s what does it for me.”

Sarkis and her husband, Dr. Elias H. Sarkis, also a child and adolescent psychiatrist, arrived in white wedding attire and were married at the 1998 Auburn-Florida football game.