Tom Ochiai, MD

I grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia. I double boarded in family medicine and surgery. I have an undergraduate degree from Yale and worked as a translator and English teacher in Japan to raise funds to enroll in the McGill University Faculty of Medicine in Montreal, Quebec.

After completing a family practice residency at Natividad Medical Center in Salinas, California, I went abroad to work in Angola, Zimbabwe and Cambodia. I have always had an interest in caring for underserved people and recently joined Doctors Without Borders, awaiting my first assignment to go somewhere in Africa.

When not at work, I am a thespian. I have appeared in many musicals with my wife and two children. My biggest role so far was the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, which sold out the 650-seat McIntyre Hall in Mount Vernon. I play musical instruments including the vibraphone and the Irish penny whistle, am an avid gardener, and enjoy going on backpacking trips with my family.