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Fil-Am doctor gets own Barbie doll for her work against COVID-19
It’s not every day that you get a Barbie doll designed to look exactly just like you, but for Dr. Audrey Sue Cruz, it has become a dream come true.
Cruz is one of the frontline workers honored by the fashion doll brand for “their life-saving accomplishments during the pandemic.”
As part of their #ThankYouHeroes program, Barbie released a collection of dolls to pay tribute to six frontline workers from around the world who “continue to rise up to serve their communities in this time of need and are inspiring current and future generations to follow their lead.”
On its Instagram stories, Barbie said it chose Cruz as a role model because she “treated COVID-19 patients and joined forces with other Asian-American physicians to fight racial bias and discrimination during the pandemic.”
The Fil-Am doctor, meanwhile, said she was honored that she’s “been made into a Barbie doll.”
“With this honor, I hope to shine a light on the commitment and compassion all frontline workers exhibited over the past year and a half and every single day,” said Cruz, a physician at Loma Linda University Medical Center in California.
“I hope to represent minorities in America and encourage cultural advocacy. I hope to represent working moms who are balancing their careers while raising a family,” she added.
“I hope to show all young women that they can be ANYTHING they want to be—even a physician mom and engineering grad like this girl.”
“You matter,” she said. “You can follow your dreams. You can make a difference.”
Aside from Cruz, Barbie’s #ThankYouHeroes program also included dolls designed after Dr. Jacqueline Goes de Jesus, who led biomedical research in the sequencing of the genome of a COVID-19 variant in Brazil; Dr. Kirby White from Australia, who co-founded the Gowns for Doctors Initiative, which allows frontline workers to continue seeing patients during the pandemic;
Prof. Sarah Gilbert, who led the development of the University of Oxford vaccine in the United Kingdom; Dr. Chika Stacy Oriuwa from Canada, who advocated against systematic racism in healthcare; and Amy O'Sullivan, US nurse who treated the first COVID-19 patient in Brooklyn, where she got ill and, after recovering, returned to caring for others.
Those who wish to avail of their own Barbie doll designed after Cruz may visit barbie.com or email service@barbie.com. – Kaela Malig/RC, GMA News
