Comic Book Creation Educates Kids About Asthma

Booster Shot Media (BSM) is an independent company that produces patient education comics and videos on a variety of health topics, including asthma, pain management, clinical research, bioethics and more.

BSM co-founders are Alex Thomas MD, a board-certified pediatric allergist who is also a cartoonist and illustrator with more than 20 years experience, and Gary Ashwal, who earned a master's degree in health communication and produces TV commercials, videos, and other content for major healthcare organizations.

Recent projects include:

Iggy and The Inhalers - Multimedia asthma education for kids with comics, video, trading cards, and more.

In 1993, Alex, then age 12, drew Iggy the Inhaler for a newsletter for his mom’s allergy practice. He had no idea at the time that one day the characters he created as a kid would turn into something more.

In 2015, Iggy was used at over 50 asthma camps nationwide, as well as other hospitals, clinics, and schools across the country. At APHA, “Iggy and the Inhalers” won the 25th annual Public Health Education Health Promotion Materials Contest Award for best multimedia materials.

Stoplight Pain Scale - A research- and theory-based comic book and pain scale developed in collaboration with emergency department pediatrician Amy Drendel DO at Children’s Hospital Wisconsin. You can view the ongoing research and publications from the project at stoplightpainscale.com.

Whiteboard Videos - Booster Shot Media write and produces whiteboard videos to explain complex health topics in collaboration with physicians and researchers at Stanford Medicine, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Harvard School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, and others. Recent topics include ethics of research on medical practices and collecting blood samples for research.