A Doctor at Heart: The Story of Groundbreaking Scientist and Teacher Vivien Thomas

A fascinating and inspiring picture book biography about Vivien Thomas, a pioneer of children’s heart surgery and trailblazer for Black people in STEM.

Vivien Thomas always loved solving problems and figuring out how things worked. In high school, inspired by his family physician, he decided he would become a doctor. Despite losing his college savings during the 1930 bank panic, Vivien stayed dedicated to making his dream a reality, a trait that would serve him all his life.

Vivien secured a lab assistant position at Vanderbilt University and later moved to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he and his mentor developed a groundbreaking procedure to cure blue baby syndrome, which led to them performing the first open-heart surgery on a child.

With the power of his passion, perseverance, and dedication to learning (and without any formal college education), Vivien saved thousands of lives.

Joan Schoettler is a children’s author and professor of children’s literature and storytelling at California State University, Fresno. Her book The Honey Jar won the Gold Medal for Juvenile Books at the 2024 California Book Awards and was a 2024 Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year. Joan lives in central California with her husband. Visit her at JoanSchoettler.com.

Steffi Walthall is an illustrator and character designer born and raised in Virginia. She received her BFA in Game Development from the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD). Steffi focuses on crafting a diverse range of characters and unique stories and is the illustrator of Joan Schoettler’s A Doctor at Heart, Chris Barton’s Moving Forward, and J.E. Bright’s Wonder Woman: The Way of the Amazons. For more information about Steffi, please visit SteffiWalthallArt.com.