Surgery resident also designs educational toys for children
A cardiac surgery resident who is also pursuing a master’s degree in industrial design is combining her love of both disciplines to teach children about cardiac health.
Michiko Maruyama’s educational toys can be used to teach kids about basic cardiac anatomy and how to live a heart-healthy lifestyle.
Last week, during a Rockin’ Docs summer camp run by University of Alberta medical students, she asked a group of children to construct two-dimensional and threedimensional models of the heart using paper, scissors and glue. The children peppered her with questions.
“Why is the heart red? How much does it weigh?” they asked the visiting doctor.
Maruyama, who grew up in Lethbridge, pursued industrial design first, studying toy design and children’s furniture during her undergraduate degree at the U of A. Her dream was to be a set designer.
At 20, she was diagnosed with a rare disease that demanded surgery and radiation. Although the sciences had long inspired her art and she had taken science courses in school, it was then that her interest in medicine intensified.
“As an industrial designer, I took a lot of inspiration from my experiences and I became more interested in medical design, prosthetics and medical tools,” she said.
With the encouragement of a classmate and mentor, she enrolled in medical school at the University of British Columbia Northern Medical Program.
Maruyama used art to reinforce her own learning during those years, creating one “daily doodle” for each day of medical school. Not wanting to spend hundreds of dollars on plastic anatomical models, she made ones herself out of paper and parlayed the work, which she dubbed “Organami,” into a selfdirected elective project.
During her second year of medical school, she and a team created toys for doctors to use as aids in teaching young BC Children’s Hospital patients about their medical conditions.
One of the toys she designed was an “Ostomy doll” teddy bear for kids who have gastrostomies.
Thanks to grants from the Alberta Medical Association and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), she is now at work on her series of educational cardiac health toys. The models are also part of her thesis for her industrial design master’s degree.
Maruyama is brimming with more ideas about future toys, including models that could be used for cardiac surgery residents, surgical simulations, plush toys and children’s books.
The paper projects are taking priority because of their accessibility, she said.
She plans to make all of her printable paper models available for free on her website.
“I think education should be available to everyone and that’s why I choose the materials I do,” she said.
People around the world have taken advantage of the resources on her website and emailed her their thanks.
The toys will also be used at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute in Edmonton, where she is a resident, starting this fall.
I think education should be available to everyone and that’s why I choose the materials I do.