Physicians Honor Northridge Doctor

Dr. Daniel Takeda, a clinical instructor at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, has been named 1997 physician of the year by the California Academy of Family Physicians.

Takeda, who lives and teaches in Northridge, also has a private practice in Simi Valley. He will be honored Friday at the academy’s annual scientific assembly in San Francisco. Each year the award is given to a California physician who exhibits the finest characteristics in the specialty of family practice.

“Receiving this honor is a wonderful feeling; it really was a big surprise,” Takeda said. “I love practicing medicine and I feel a huge responsibility to be an example of what family medicine is all about.”

At Northridge Hospital Medical Center, Takeda teaches maternity care in the shared-care prenatal program and also oversees a tattoo-removal clinic that allows former gang members to erase their gang markings.

In 1986, the UCLA Medical School graduate was named the outstanding graduating resident at Northridge, and in 1991 he was given the residency program’s outstanding faculty award.

In addition to his work at the medical center and in his private practice, Takeda, 38, is chief of staff at Simi Valley Hospital and Health Care Services, where he also serves as chairman of the bioethics committee.

“Dr. Takeda is an outstanding choice for family physician of the year,” said Dr. Stephen Brunton, president of the academy. “His dedication to his patients, students, colleagues and community is striking. His practice is emblematic of the ideals of compassion, continuity and comprehensiveness of care embodied by family medicine.”