Atrium Health Floyd physician publishes first children’s book
Dr. Pamela Obi has always enjoyed writing, and after giving birth to four children, it just seems natural that a kids book would show up in her repertoire.
“I have always written” said Obi, director of quality improvement at Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center Family Medicine Residency. “I wrote a lot of poetry and poems that I submitted mostly to medical journals. I started writing this book about two years ago around Christmas and actually wrote it as a poem initially.
“It was supposed to be just a nice Christmas poem about farm animals. But then I spoke to a local author (Terri Gillespie) who has written many books and I told her I was interested in exploring that field. She said, ‘Why don’t you turn them into a story?’ and that is how I got the idea write this book.”
That book, “Moo and Bark,” is a tale of Moo the cow and Bark the dog as they venture outside on a cold, clear night to watch the stars. While Moo is much bigger, Bark is older and wiser and keeps an eye on his bovine friend.
Her first experience reading the book to a public audience was at St. Mary’s Catholic School. She later read to students at Anna K. Davie Elementary School and The Montessori School of Rome. Recently she took center stage in the Rome-Floyd County Library’s auditorium, where children for generations have enjoyed Story Time and puppet shows.
Obi said so far, her journey as an author has not been linked to her medical career, although that might change.
“My handle on Instagram is pamobitheauthor, so I am sort of separating Pam Obi the author from Pam Obi the physician. However, my ultimate desire is to write books for all audiences that provide information and education about their health and about the human body.”
She is currently working on a book series that will explain the human body to kids, so that they will be able to understand how it works and what they can do to stay healthy. She is also working on a sequel to “Moo and Bark” that could come out later this year.
Obi was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and came to the U.S. as a teenager. She started college when she was 17 at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where she also received her medical degree.
Her work with the residency program also draws on her desire to teach.
“I see residents come in as interns in their first year, and they are scared and they don’t know what to do. They go through growing pains, and in three years you get to witness their growth and maturity and they are ready to start their own practices,” she said. “I think that is the most gratifying part of teaching residents. You don’t see the growth every day, just like with kids,” but when they graduate it is like, wow!”