Dr. Cruz is the first woman of Filipino descent to have her likeness made into a Barbie doll.
Intermountain physician Audrey Sue Cruz, MD, is among six global frontline workers honored with a one-of-a-kind Barbie doll created in their image as part of Mattel Inc.’s #ThankYouHeroes program. Dr. Cruz works at Intermountain’s Blue Diamond myGeneration clinic in Las Vegas.
Mattel contacted Dr. Cruz after she and several fellow providers went viral for their #IAmNotAVirus campaign against anti-Asian and Asian-American hate this past spring. She’d been working as a hospitalist and an assistant professor of medicine in Southern California when she teamed up with other doctors to create a video that addressed anti-Asian violence related to the pandemic. The video and their campaign received national media attention.
As an Asian-American, Dr. Cruz says she’s encountered ethnocentric and racist sentiment. She says on more than one occasion she’s had patients refuse to be seen by her because they said they wanted someone with a different background. Some have inquired about her background in intrusive and judgmental ways.
“Words do matter,” says Dr. Cruz. “Individuals need to think twice before saying hurtful things.”
Mattel worked with Dr. Cruz to create a Barbie doll based on her likeness that would inspire girls to become future doctors. She was one of two women in the U.S. who were chosen for the honor. The other woman is Amy O’Sullivan, RN, an emergency room nurse who treated the first COVID-19 case in Brooklyn, New York. Sarah Gilbert, who led the creation of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, and Dr. Jacqueline Goes de Jesus, a Brazilian biomedical researcher who worked on a team that sequenced the genome of a COVID-19 variant, were also chosen by Mattel to be part of this doll line.
Dr. Cruz is the first woman of Filipino descent to have her likeness made into a Barbie doll.
“It means so much to me as a minority, as a woman, and as a healthcare worker,” she says.
She told Las Vegas Fox 5 News, “I give huge respect to Mattel and Barbie for allowing inclusion and diversity to be represented in their Barbies. I think it’s so important for anyone who’s of a different skin color or who’s a minority to see that there’s a Barbie who looks like them.”
Dr. Cruz shares this message for the young generation: “You can do anything you want to do. You can speak your mind. You can follow your dreams. It doesn’t matter what your skin color is or your background or your culture or what situations you grew up in. Anything is possible.”
The Dr. Cruz dolls aren’t for sale at this time and have been made as a one-of-a-kind collection, though many people have shared their interest in purchasing the dolls.
Links to media coverage:
CNN | U.S. News and World Report | Fox 5 Las Vegas | Las Vegas Sun