Where Family Medicine Matters

Theodore A. DaCosta, Sr., MD, ’60
Theodore DaCosta, Jr., MD, ’89
John DaCosta, MD,’91
UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School

and
Judith DaCosta, PhD, UMDNJ-Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences ’91

In the DaCosta family, medicine matters very much. Father, mother, sons, daughters, daughter- and son-in-law, and a grandson are all following in the family footsteps, and many can thank UMDNJ. Eighty-year-old Dr. DaCosta, Sr, who still practices gastroenterology part-time in Orange, NJ, says, “In an afternoon, we’ll sometimes see 50 patients.” His wife, Johanne DaCosta, RN, is “the life support of the practice.” Oldest son Ted, Jr., says that all of them have chosen this career path because of “the passion for patients we learned from our parents.” Second son John spent last year in an area of Kentucky where the nearest gastroenterologist was hundreds of miles away but he’s back now. His wife, Judith, who veered just slightly away from the MD route, earned her doctorate in microbiology at UMDNJ and daughter Anna Maria is an MD who jumped states and went to the University of Pennsylvania where she met her husband, John Choi, an MD as well as a PhD. John’s wife, Maryann, is also an RN who has been a part of the family practice. Youngest daughter, Nancy Giten, PhD, is a clinical psychologist at Hahneman University and in private practice. Even grandson Teddy is a pre-med major at Seton Hall University. (In photo: Ted Sr., Johanne, Ted Jr., Teddy and Nancy DaCosta Giten)

Ted Sr. believes that being in the charter class of 1960 prepared him for almost anything on the job – and in family life too. “By the time I graduated I had already delivered more than 100 babies.” What’s next for this long line of healthcare-givers? Collaborating on a weight reduction center that will combine nutrition and exercise interventions with endoscopic and bariatric surgery. “Obesity is one of the most serious problems facing healthcare today,” says Ted Jr. To get in touch, email tdacosta1@comcast.net.