Skip to main content
Clear icon
43º

UT Health San Antonio great graduate helps African refugees while studying to be a dentist

Anna Katharina Tosti says she was in the 11th grade when she first decided on her career path

Most high school students aren’t exactly sure what they want to do for the rest of their life.

However, that was not the case for Anna Katharina Tosti.

The University of Texas Health San Antonio graduate says she remembers the moment she first decided her career path.

“I was actually very strategic about it,” Tosti said.

“When I was in 11th grade, I kind of just sat down. I was like, ‘okay, what job do I want to do?’” she said.

Katharina decided to study dentistry with a specialization in periodontics.

“Periodontics is a dental specialty in which you focus heavily on the bone surrounding the teeth. So that can involve things like sinus lifts, bone surgeries, gum surgeries, placing implants. It’s more of a surgical field.”

But, Katharina has done more than just work on teeth while at UT Health.

She has also served as her class president and worked as a French interpreter for the San Antonio refugee health clinic.

“There’s a dental medical clinic where we treat refugees for lower costs and a lot of the patients there don’t speak English. So a lot of them are Arabic or from Asia. We have a couple of patients from Africa who spoke only French,” she said.

Katharina says studying medicine has not been easy but she was able to make it through with the love and support of her family.

“Ten years ago, if you told me I was going to be a doctor, I probably wouldn’t have believed it. But I’m very happy to be where I am. It’s been a long journey. It hasn’t always been easy, but overall, it’s been great,” Tosti said

If everything goes as planned, Katharina will receive her degree in dentistry this summer and enroll in the school’s residency program.


About the Authors
Roslyn Jimenez headshot

Roslyn Jimenez is a news producer at KSAT. Before joining the team, she was a producer and video editor at KIII-TV and a radio intern in Corpus Christi. She graduated from Del Mar College with an Associate's degree in political science and liberal arts. Roslyn is family-oriented and loves spending time with her fiancé and chihuahua Paco.

Myra Arthur headshot

Myra Arthur is passionate about San Antonio and sharing its stories. She graduated high school in the Alamo City and always wanted to anchor and report in her hometown. Myra anchors KSAT News at 6:00 p.m. and hosts and reports for the streaming show, KSAT Explains. She joined KSAT in 2012 after anchoring and reporting in Waco and Corpus Christi.

Loading...