YouTube Health is backing The Doctor Is In — an educational preschool show from Ad Astra Media and Joel Bervell, a popular health influencer and science communicator. The Doctor Is In will also play locally on WHRO/PBS and will eventually be on other PBS networks throughout the United States.
With Joel Bervell’s inspiring voice and our shared mission to make science and medicine accessible to all, The Doctor Is In promises to ignite passion and curiosity among young audiences from all walks of life,” said Ad Astra CEO and MCR Radiologist Jose Morey.
This live-action and animated series features Bervell playing the role of a friendly pediatrician answering medical questions from his 2D-animated co-host, a curious five-year-old boy named Little Leland.
After raising almost US$62,000 in funding through a Kickstarter campaign this year, the project caught the attention of YouTube Health, which is a division of the digital platform that seeks to make high-quality health information accessible by partnering with leaders and creators. Through this new partnership, the Health unit will financially support the series, which will be distributed first exclusively on YouTube. The Doctor Is In will premiere next summer on its own channel.
Typical episodes will focus on medical questions that are relatable for kids (such as catching a cold or losing a tooth), and the series will also explain career paths in medicine to young audiences. The supporting cast will include animated anthropomorphic tools and supplies, such as a grumpy doctor’s bag (Otto), a friendly stethoscope (Sammie) and a clever x-ray machine (Zada).
DreamWorks Animation production supervisor Alyssa Harden (The Bad Guys 2) and director/producer Sacha Smith (Sombras) co-created this show concept, which was then developed by Bervell and Ad Astra.
Known as the Medical Mythbuster, Bervell is a fourth-year medical student who gained prominence online (one million followers combined and 200 million-plus video impressions), thanks to his bite-sized content debunking healthcare misinformation and highlighting disparities affecting marginalized groups. For instance, one of Bervell’s viral videos explains how pulse oximeters don’t always work accurately on patients with darker skin tones.
The Doctor Is In aims to promote inclusivity, sending the message that Black and Brown kids can become doctors, too. Little Leland is an existing character in Good Night, Little Doctor, one of the titles in Ad Astra’s Good Night book series that each features a different STEM-loving kid with a specific interest, such as astronomy, medicine, veterinary science and engineering.