{"id":306045,"date":"2026-06-13T03:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T03:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/306045\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T03:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T03:47:08","slug":"um-doctoral-student-launches-healthcare-childrens-book-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/306045\/","title":{"rendered":"UM doctoral student launches healthcare children\u2019s book series"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Nicole Jacobsen poses with her book, Leo Learns. \/\/ Photo courtesy of Nicole Jacobsen.<\/p>\n

University of Miami doctoral student Nicole Jacobsen never imagined she\u2019d end up in healthcare, art or education \u2014\u00a0much less in an interdisciplinary career that combined all three.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With her picture book series, \u201cLeo Learns About Healthcare,\u201d Jacobsen endeavored to help children feel more comfortable in healthcare settings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted the books to just open the door for conversation in any way, shape or form for families \u2026 and to make hospitals and medical procedures seem less scary,\u201d said Jacobsen. \u201cEveryone always says children are scared of the unknown, [but] adults are, too. So, if they kind of know what they\u2019re getting themselves into, maybe it would just ease a bit of anxiety and then that will help them in every way possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Covers of Leo Learns, Nicole Jacobsen\u2019s children\u2019s book series. \/\/ Photo courtesy of Nicole Jacobsen.<\/p>\n

Jacobsen combined personal and professional experience in her series. In the books, Leo \u2014\u00a0the protagonist, named after her nephew and godson \u2014\u00a0isn\u2019t a patient. He\u2019s an ordinary kid who goes into medical settings with an open mind, excited to learn about specific fields.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always just want to teach [my nephew] about all the things the world has to offer,\u201d said Jacobsen. \u201cI just wrote a little book about radiation therapy just so he would know what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the first installment, \u201cLeo Learns About Radiation Therapy,\u201d took off in her community, what started as a pet project blossomed into a full-fledged series. What started as a standalone became the first in a pentology, followed by \u201cLeo Learns About Mental Health,\u201d \u201cLeo Learns About Hospitals,\u201d \u201cLeo Learns About CT Scans\u201d and \u201cLeo Learns About MRI Scans.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

To enter a creative field she had no knowledge of, Jacobsen sought advice from several children\u2019s book authors and illustrators. Her own process involved rewrite after rewrite to ensure stories remained both educational and light-hearted, oftentimes seeking out young beta readers for feedback.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to just get inside a younger person\u2019s brain, if I can,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

Apart from alleviating fear ahead of medical visits, Jacobsen hopes her series might introduce children to careers they might have never known about otherwise.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know about radiation therapy until I Googled it when I was 21 years old,\u201d said Jacobsen. \u201cAnd it\u2019s a really fruitful career among all the health sciences, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacobsen has worked in radiation therapy for 18 years. A New York native, she trained and then spent eight years at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cI treated a lot of pediatric patients over the years [at Memorial Sloan], which is not that common for my field,\u201d said Jacobsen. \u201cIt\u2019s not for everyone, but I actually loved it more than anything. To get a child to trust you is really a very special [role] that you get to play in their life.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2021, Jacobsen moved to Miami for a position at UM\u2019s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center before traveling as a therapy professional. Upon her return, she accepted a role as Miami Dade College\u2019s radiation therapy program director and clinical coordinator.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her big shift into education next landed her in UM\u2019s doctoral education program. There, the program\u2019s focus on combining psychological thinking with the teaching process helped \u201cspark the idea\u201d for the series. At 41 years old, Jacobsen said finally gaining admission to UM was a \u201cbucket list item.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a big University of Miami fan generally, so I\u2019m just so happy that I can be completing it there,\u201d said Jacobsen. \u201cPeople tell you you can\u2019t go back to school \u2026 you so can, and I\u2019m so happy I did. I hope that inspires people to continue their education at any time, any age in their life, if it\u2019s what they want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacobsen has five more installments in the works, and she\u2019s currently creating Spanish translations of the existing five.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Though Jacobsen encountered her share of imposter syndrome while starting out as an author, she\u2019s adamant it\u2019s never too late to try something new.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time you try something, it\u2019s never a failure because you learn something from it,\u201d said Jacobsen. \u201cWhat you put out there is what you get\u2026and as long as you try, there\u2019s no fault in that. If I gave up every time I tried something new, I never would have landed here where I am in my life now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nicole Jacobsen poses with her book, Leo Learns. \/\/ Photo courtesy of Nicole Jacobsen. University of Miami doctoral…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-306045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}