Nadia Awni Sakati

Nadia Awni Sakati is a Syrian-Saudi pediatrician. Born on 23 May 1938 in Damascus, Syria, Sakati has contributed to genetics medicine.

Sakati aspired to become a doctor since 8th grade at school. Her father supported her pursuing medical studies in the US, but he died six months before she graduated from medical school in Damascus in 1965. She was accepted to study in the US after that, but enrolled at the American University of Beirut to remain near her mother.

Sakati spent her residency in Pediatrics at the American University of Beirut and Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida.

Sakati was appointed as a pediatrician and senior consultant for the genetics research center in King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She established 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.