Pub. 4 2020 Issue 1

fundamental in developing how she approached person- to-person care. In her position at UCSF, Sakata wore two hats: working both as a research coordinator for breast cancer trials and also with a group called the Decision Support Corps, which coached patients through a shared medical decision-making tool developed by the depart - ment. “Working at the Breast Care Center made clear to me the importance of setting up patients for success; and that success should be defined by the patient’s values, not the practitioner’s.” After two years at UCSF, Sakata started medical school at Northwestern University in Chicago. At first, she did not know what specialty she wanted to pursue. She shared that Northwestern is known for producing specialists, not family medicine doctors. Only 12 from Sakata’s class of over 170 went into family medicine, an increase from three people the year before. She says that during the first summer of medical school, many students will do research; but she decided to look instead for an exploratory experience that would help her choose a specialty. The Illinois Academy of Family Physicians had a summer externship that placed students with a family doctor somewhere in Illinois. She ap - plied, looking to have a rural placement. Her grandparents were lettuce farmers back in California, and spending time with them piqued her early interest in rural medicine. Sakata was placed in Quincy, Illinois, and that summer, she says she got to see family medicine in all its glory. She was able to participate in a farm safety day, helped with delivering babies, and spent some time with a sports doc there who got her started thinking about completing a sports medicine fellowship in the future. After graduating from medical school, Thea matched at the University of Utah for her family medicine residency. When asked why Utah was at the top of her rank list, she says she had a formula when looking at different programs. First was a set of key criteria: a strong program with both academic and community settings, the opportunity for a rural medicine experience, available outdoor recreation, and a location with a strong food scene. “Bonus points” were given to a residency located in or near a state capitol so she could learn about advocacy. The Salt Lake area also got additional points for being home to an Olympic speedskating oval, as she had started speedskating in her fourth year of medical school. Finally, while she did not have many social or familial ties to Utah at the time, she had one significant historical link: her great-grandfather was a Presbyterian minister who led a congregation in Ogden for several years after getting out of the internment camps in the 1940s. After finishing her residency, Sakata completed a sports medicine fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic. There, she was able to indulge her love of sports, particularly baseball. “Cleveland had the best opportunities for seeing how to manage the care of a professional baseball team.” In addi - tion to accompanying her attendings to Indians games and spring training, she and the other sports fellows took care of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, a Class A minor league team in Niles, Ohio. “For the record,” she states that she has been and always will be a San Francisco Giants fan. “I got a base - ball card signed by Will Clark in 1988, and that was that.” Yearning once again for the mountains, Sakata returned to Utah after finishing her fellowship. She wanted to work for a health care system that prioritized innovation around health care delivery, which made working for Intermountain Healthcare an excellent fit. Sakata now works full time as an urgent care physician through Intermountain Healthcare’s Instacare clinics. She was encouraged to look into work in urgent care by a fellow UAFP board member, and she says that so far, her experience has been fascinating. “A lot of people think it’s all just coughs and colds, but it’s a lot more interesting when part of a broader system. At urgent care, you see the times when people don’t know where to start or how to otherwise access health care.” Working in urgent care, Sakata describes seeing “another front of the front line” when patients arrive with a problem and don’t have a Member Spotlight | Continued from page 13 After graduating from medical school, Thea matched at the University of Utah for her family medicine residency. When asked why Utah was at the top of her rank list, she says she had a formula when looking at different programs. First was a set of key criteria: a strong program with both academic and community settings, the opportunity for a rural medicine experience, available outdoor recreation, and a location with a strong food scene. www.UtahAFP.org | 14