Dr. Sae Takada (VA/UCLA Scholar) is an aspiring HIV primary care physician and researcher. She graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in biochemical sciences, where she directed a student-run homeless shelter. Seeing the connection between urban poverty in the US and poverty abroad, she pursued a master’s degree in global health policy at the University of Tokyo, where she collaborated with the Laotian Ministry of Health in evaluating the implementation of a child health training program. Inspired to become a provider while pursuing research, she then obtained a combined MD-PhD degree at Harvard University. Her doctoral research focused on social networks and health-related stigma, with projects examining the impact of social ties on HIV stigma in agrarian Ugandan villages. She also served as teaching fellow for undergraduate courses in global health and medical sociology, for which she won teaching awards.

Career Interests: Sae plans to become a primary care physician specializing in the care of HIV-positive patients, while generating knowledge and designing interventions on community factors that influence health beliefs and behaviors.

Research Interests: Sae is interested in examining how health beliefs and behaviors are propagated through interpersonal relationships. She plans to use her interdisciplinary training to integrate quantitative methods with anthropological and historical perspectives to generate a complex understanding of social relationships and health. She ultimately hopes to understand how to leverage these social relationships to make communities healthier. ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬