Pub. 4 2020 Issue 1

Member Spotlight Theadora Sakata, M.D. D r. Theadora “Thea” Sakata possesses many great qualities: brains, wit, athletic prowess, compas - sion, and humility. This last one becomes evident when talking about her college and postgraduate education. She attended Harvard for her under - grad, Cambridge for her master’s degree, and Northwestern for medical school. But when asked what she thinks set her apart to gain admittance into some of the most prestigious universities in the world, “Honestly, I think it’s dumb luck,” is her reply. However, just a few minutes of conversation with her demonstrates that “dumb luck” has nothing to do with it. Sakata grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where her father practiced pathology and nuclear medicine. Her life started just north of the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County, where she describes her childhood as somewhat charmed and bucolic. “There was a redwood grove behind my house, where my brother and I would spend hours playing. We called it the ‘Ewok Forest’ and were left to our own devices to explore and get into just the right amount of trouble.” At the age of 10, Sakata’s family moved closer to Stanford University when her father’s job changed. Fearing that she would get lost in her new district’s larger class sizes, her parents decided to put her in a private school and sent her to Castilleja School, the only nonsectarian girls’ school in the Bay Area. Sakata says, “I really credit Castilleja for lay - ing the foundation for how I think and how to form healthy woman-to-woman relationships. The school stressed critical thinking, a STEM education, and trying to make your world a better place.” Sakata went on from Castilleja to attend college at Harvard. When asked about the admission process, Sakata is less than impressed with herself and her credentials. “I was a good student and was involved in tons of extracurriculars, but there were a lot of applicants who were good students and involved in tons of extracurriculars. I feel like I won a lot - tery; honestly, after a point, I think it’s all dumb luck.” Despite having attended Harvard, she still feels that her college experience was pretty typical. She sang with the Radcliffe Choral Society, played a year of JV softball, and was a map editor for the student-run travel guide, Let’s Go. In 2002, Sakata graduated with her bachelor’s in environmental sci - ence and public policy. After college, Sakata went on to pursue her master’s degree in land economy at Cambridge University in England. When asked to describe that particular field of study, she says, “If you ask five different land economists, you’ll get five differ - ent answers.” She describes it as a cross between envi - ronmental policy, land-use planning and economics. After finishing her degree, she still was not sure what she wanted to do for a career and realized how much she liked working with people. She thought back to a course on human health and the environment that she completed as a Harvard un - dergrad, and this piqued her interest in medicine. After completing her masters, Sakata returned to Boston and became a teaching assistant for the environmental health class she loved so much as an undergraduate. During that time, she also began looking into post-baccalaureate programs and decided to complete her pre-med courses at Barnard College in New York. Following her time there, she returned west to work at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Breast Care Center for Dr. Laura Es - serman. Those years of training under Dr. Esserman were Member Spotlight | Continued on page 14 13 |