Warren Yamashita MD, MPH

August 25, 2022 Hurtt Family Health Clinic

Specialty

Family Medicine, Addiction Medicine

 

Languages Spoken

English

 

Biography

Warren Yamashita MD, MPH is a double-board certified Family Medicine and Addiction Medicine physician. Dr. Yamashita was born and raised in Orange County. He graduated from the University of Southern California with a double-major in Biological Sciences and Philosophy. Before medical school, he took a gap-year to work with different underserved communities with the Mother Teresa Sisters at a homeless shelter in the Navajo Nation and a hospice in the Bay Area. There he learned Mother Teresa’s ethic of service to the least of these exemplified in Matthew 25:40. He continued to complete a dual MD/MPH (Masters in Public Health) degree at USC Keck School of Medicine. He completed his Family Medicine Residency on the Big Island of Hawaii at a rural community-based program. He then graduated from Stanford’s Addiction Medicine Fellowship and has stayed on at Stanford as adjunct faculty teaching their Stigma and Disparities curricula to the fellows.

Dr. Yamashita founded and currently Chairs the Christian Medical and Dental Association’s Addiction Medicine Section, which is an multi-professional and interdisciplinary network of healthcare professionals and faith-based leaders working together to free their communities from addiction. He also serves on CMDA’s Racism, Reconciliation, Equality, and Diversity Committee. As a Yonsei, 4th generation Japanese American, Dr. Yamashita also conducts research with Stanford and the Asian American Drug Abuse Program to break the model minority myth around Asian American and Pacific Islander substance use and recovery. He is passionate about caring for the whole person and exposing myths and stigmas that contribute to addiction, overdoses, and poor health in our communities.

 

Practice Philosophy

I believe my patients are my teachers. While practicing competent and compassionate care, I also believe medicine is still an art which requires attentive listening to best support my patients along their healing journeys. I love my job and there is nothing I would rather be doing.