Mika Sinanan

Member since 2025.

Mika brings a newfound passion for woodworking and woodturning to the Board, and a 40 year background in medicine and medical administration. He is a recently retired Professor of Surgery at the University of Washington where is spent his career. His medical training was at Johns Hopkins (MD), the University of Washington (surgical residency), and University of British Columbia (PhD). His clinical focus was on gastrointestinal and reoperative surgery and research interests were in surgical robotics and applications of surgical simulation to the measurement of performance.

He is a past President of the University of Washington Physicians, (leading the 2000 physicians at the UW), and a past Board member and past President of the Washington State Medical Association (WSMA). He is the current President of the WSMA Foundation and also serves on the Board of the Olympic Peninsula Chapter of the American Association of Woodturners (OPCAAW) as club treasurer.

With retirement from medicine at the end of 2022, Mika started to engage a passion for woodworking and woodcraft, building skills through numerous weekend and week-long hands-on courses. In 2023, he was immersed in the Fall intensive course with Philip Shelton at PTSW. He has also taken courses at the Arbutus School (Olympia) and Woodcraft, and through the Olympia Woodworkers Guild, Woodturners of Olympia, the OPCAAW, and nationally. Over the past two years, he has built and outfitted a shop so he continue building his skills in flatwork (cabinets, tables, boxes, and now, a rocking chair!.) and woodturning (spindle work, lidded boxes, and bowls mostly).

“I so much appreciate the rich diversity of people (instructors and staff, leaders, and classmates), classes, cultures, perspectives, and energy at the PTSW. It’s really an honor to be able to serve on the Board and be part of the School. My time in courses at PTSW has shown me what real expertise is. I’ve got a long way to go to get there, but fully intend to keep taking classes and improving my skills! Serving on the Board is one way to give back.”