Nadia Awni Sakati is a Syrian-Saudi pediatrician.Born on 23 May 1938 in Damascus, Syria, Sakati has contributed to the discoveries and advances in genetics medicine and has inspired numerous female professionals with her work.[1]
Dr. Sakati aspired to become a doctor since the 8th grade when she wrote an essay contrasting her classmate's dream of wearing a bridal gown with her own dream of wearing a medical gown. Her father supported her pursuing medical studies in the US, but he passed away 6 months before she graduated from medical school in Damascus in 1965. She was accepted to study in the US after that, but chose to enroll at the American University of Beirut instead so she could stay near her now widowed mother.[2]
Sakati spent her residency in Pediatrics at the American University of Beirut and Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida. She earned her MD from Damascus University in 1965. She worked in the hospital of American University in Beirut, Lebanon and Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida. In 1969, she was the Fellow in Genetics and Metabolism at the University of California, San Diego. In addition, she has co-authored books with Dr. William Nyhan in "Genetic and Malformation Syndrome in Clinical Medicine, 1976" and Diagnostic Recognition of Genetic Disease, 1987".[3]
Dr. Sakati is currently working as a pediatrician and senior consultant for the genetics research center in King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In addition, she also established of the first genetics departments in Saudi Arabia where she worked on chorionic villus sampling and carrier detection. She described three rare disorders in children, Sakati–Nyhan–Tisdale syndrome with William Leo Nyhan and W.K. Tisdale, Sanjad-Sakati syndrome with Sami A. Sanjad, and Woodhouse-Sakati syndrome, with N. J. Woodhouse.