I was born on Oahu and raised in Makiki. I attended Boston College for my undergraduate studies and returned to Hawaii to attend the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine. After completing my internship and residency in neurology and a fellowship in movement disorders at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, I returned home to practice in Hawaii. I was inspired by my childhood pediatrician and decided I wanted to be a doctor just like him. My family has always been supportive of my endeavors.
As a teaching assistant in neuroanatomy while in medical school, I determined the brain was the most important part of the body so I decided to pursue neurology as a specialty. In recent years there has been an explosion of knowledge of how the brain works. I have been a Hawaii Permanente Medical Group (HPMG) physician for over 25 years and am now chief of our neurology division. When I joined the group in 1988, we had only one neurologist, and I'm proud of what the division has grown into today. Over the years I have valued the opportunity to work with excellent, caring, and professional colleagues and staff. I think it is important to involve patients in their own care. I most enjoy face-to-face meetings with my patients and endeavor to help them understand their medical conditions and take an active role in managing their care. Phone or email contact with patients provides a convenient supplement to office visits. I stay up-to-date with the latest developments in my field through the Parkinson's Disease CME Learning Center and by attending annual conferences on stroke management and prevention, including the Western States Stroke Consortium. I have presented abstracts at the Ninth International Symposium on Parkinson’s Disease, and co-authored a chapter on Movement Disorders in the Manual of Geriatrics. From 1988 to the present, I have been an Associate Clinical Professor of Neurology at the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine. Previously, I was an Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
I exercise by running 4-6 miles every day. I enjoy spending time with my family, traveling, reading, and visiting art museums. I collect Yixing teapots made of purple clay from central China.
