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Anita Figueredo, MD* By Sarita Eastman, MD Dr. Anita Figueredo arrived in San Diego in 1947 as the city’s first woman surgeon, with an improbable backstory. Born in 1916 in Costa Rica — a country which, in the early 20th century, had neither a medical school nor a tradition of higher education for women — Anita decided to become a doctor and, in 1921, sailed into New York harbor with her formidable young mother who supported them both as a seamstress until the day of her daughter’s graduation from Long Island College of Medicine in 1940. That summer of 1940, Anita began a rotating internship at New York Infirmary for Women and Children and continued on the next year in surgery-gynecology — until the United States was abruptly plunged into WWII and the male surgical residents called away to war. In July 1942, Anita became one of the first two women residents at New York’s Memorial Hospital for Cancer. A month later she married medical school classmate, pediatrician, and Naval Lieutenant Dr. William Doyle, just before he steamed away to the South Pacific. It was Bill Doyle, during wartime visits to Balboa Naval Hospital, who discovered San Diego. In 1948, Anita joined surgical oncologist Dr. Frank Hankins as his assistant in a gratifying practice that took them to five hospitals: Paradise Valley, Mercy, County, Scripps, and Quintard. But, by the end of 1949, Anita was pregnant with the fifth of her nine children and realized she had to limit her travel to La Jolla and Scripps. Although Anita’s training in surgical oncology had been general, there was added
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emphasis on certain regions: skin, head and neck, breast and pelvis — and these became the focus of a private practice that grew exponentially until she retired from major surgery after 30 years because of a disabling illness. She eventually returned to office practice in minor surgery and the follow-up of her large cohort of cancer survivors until her final retirement at the age of 80. Anita Figueredo, surgeon and mother of nine, with a deeply committed partner and household help, was an expert in time management and active in community, church, and philanthropic affairs, including her own foundation: Friends of the Poor. Anita had a deep friendship with Mother Teresa of Calcutta from their first meeting in San Diego in 1960, which led to the establishment of Mother Teresa’s nuns in Tijuana in 1988. After 57 years of marriage, Anita lost her devoted husband, Bill Doyle, in 2000. She herself died at home on Feb. 19, 2010, age 93, surrounded by her family. Two years later the home and adjacent medical office at 417 Coast Blvd. / 418 S. Coast, La Jolla, were together designated “The Dr. Anita Figueredo Buildings” as a permanent historical resource for San Diego *Editor’s Note: Drs. Figueredo and Doyle are the parents of Sarita Eastman, MD. She is married to Brent Eastman, MD, a past president of the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Sarita Eastman practiced pediatrics for many years in La Jolla. All have been longstanding members of the San Diego County Medical Society.
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Earth laughs in flowers.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essayist, Lecturer, and Poet Who Led the Transcendentalist Movement of the Mid-19th Century (1803–1882)
Sue With Her Husband, Dean, at SDCMS’s April 26 Physician Social
SDCMS STAFF
Welcome Sue Fledderjohn! Sue joins SDCMS from UC San Diego School of Medicine. Sue was the events coordinator in the Office of Student Affairs, overseeing orientation week, Match Day, and commencement. She has worked with hundreds of medical students as advisor for student interest groups and organizations: The Human Condition magazine, dedicated to prose, poetry, artwork, and photography by medical students and faculty; student council government; and health and wellness programs. Sue, executive assistant to Paul Hegyi, can be reached at (858) 300-2786 (desk) or via email at Sue.Fledderjohn@ SDCMS.org. SAN DIEGO PHYSICIAN.org
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