Fort Worth Medical School Faculty Member Wants to Empower Children with New Book

FORT WORTH – In real life, superheroes can come from all walks of life. For many, the first example of a superhero may be a parent.

“Children understand that their parents are at work or other things,” said Amy Faith Ho, M.D., M.P.H., an assistant professor at TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine. “But in medicine I don’t think kids get to see or internalize what mommy  is doing at work.”

Dr. Ho, who is also an emergency medicine physician for JPS Health Network, works on the frontlines of health care every day. Many would say that alone qualifies her for superhero status.

Now, she’s penned a children’s book titled, “Is Mommy A Doctor or Superhero?” aimed at planting the seed in young children to strive for a rewarding career and a family.

“I had been mulling over doing this for years,” Dr. Ho said. “When COVID happened, I just said let me get this message out there.”

The Austin native is also a nationally-published writer and speaker.

Dr. Ho wrote her first nationally published piece on humanism in medical training for the nationally acclaimed medical blog, KevinMD. In 2014, her final year of medical school, she published a policy-focused piece in Forbes on job market economics within medical training.

She has also been featured and published in NPR, The Today Show, Chicago Tribune and others. She has given presentations with TEDx, American Medical Association, American Academy of Emergency Medicine and multiple other projects.

Since medical school, young females in medicine are asked: “How are you going to juggle it all?” Dr. Ho said. “That’s a message you get in medicine and in all careers as females. But over time, meeting people who have done it, it’s an inspirational role to have.”

Her 28-page picture book, released in October 2020, uses illustrations to convey the stories of the unique set of characters who inspire children, ages 3 to 5, to believe that one day they will grow up and become superheroes in their own way.

Dr. Ho uses fun and colorful references of life in health care that gives adults an opportunity to share their love of medicine with children.

“Something, I wanted to show was that women do it all,” Dr. Ho said. “They also take the different parts of their lives and turn those skills into other aspects. The mothering nature really applies well to patient care.”

The book is written from the perspective of a young child called “Me” who has a big imagination. Me uses her imagination to bring her toys Cosmos and Feathers to life. Cosmos helps her dream about other galaxies, while Feathers represents her feelings and feels what she feels. But the true bond that is cultivated throughout the book is the connection between Me and her Mommy, who is a doctor.

“I wanted children to see that Mommy is doing really incredible things. She’s really saving lives,” Dr. Ho said. “We also wanted readers to see that moms can have good days and moms can have bad days. But no matter what, the child is what brings mom happiness.”

The book has anecdotal stories of Mommy battling germs at work with medicine and saving lives on and off the clock. But the book also reminds children of their role in supporting their parents. In the book, Me does that for her Mommy by recognizing one of her own superpowers by giving her mom hugs when she gets home from work.

It’s about empowering children to be their own superhero to someone, Dr. Ho said: “It was important for me to say that if they don’t want to be physicians, they don’t have to be physicians. It’s more about empowering them to know they can be something incredible.”