At the end of a two-week holiday in New Zealand with his wife Laura back in 2017, Dr Tony flew over Taranaki Maunga on his way back to America and was in awe of how beautiful the scenery looked down below.
He reminisced “Taranaki was the one place in the North Island we hadn’t visited because it was out of the way, and we only had two weeks! I remember flying over Mount Taranaki, with its very distinct circle of trees around it, and thinking wow, I wish we’d had the chance to go there!”
Fast forward to 2025, Dr Tony now works under that very mountain as a GP at Whaitara Health Centre.
Born, raised and educated in America, Dr Tony mentions travel was a big driver in helping him decide to become a GP.
“I was at university, and I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life. I knew I liked learning about different cultures and travel, that I liked science and helping people, so with all that combined I thought maybe I should be a doctor!”
Completing his medical training at Ohio University, and residency in family medicine in Virginia, he then spent 10 years working in Los Angeles as a GP before starting to wonder about where to next.
It wasn’t until a chance encounter with a colleague talking about their plans to move to New Zealand for work, that the idea of moving to the other side of the world crossed his mind.
“Moving to New Zealand wasn’t something that was on the horizon at the time, but then my wife and I sat down to discuss what our next steps should be and after talking it over for about a week or so, we thought we should look into moving there.”
After speaking with a recruiter, New Plymouth was one of the locations presented to him with GP job opportunities, and they were instantly excited about the prospect of making the place with the beautiful mountain, their new home.
“Since we’ve been here, we’ve loved it!” he beams, “It’s artsy, it’s got culture, we’re able to walk around, it’s a slower pace than Los Angeles! We’re big into the outdoors, so we’re finding there’s so much to do here!”
Tui Ora was an unknown organisation to Dr Tony before moving here, but as soon as he completed his interview, he knew it was somewhere he wanted to work!
“I had a list of places I was speaking with, and as soon as I came in and interviewed at Tui Ora, it shot straight to the top of the list. I loved the culture, the services offered, the Māori values intertwined, that the people working there loved their jobs – it’s unique to find an organisation like that!”
Dr Tony started at Whaitara Health Centre in September and he’s enjoying the holistic health care model Tui Ora has in place to help whānau.
“Some of the places I’ve worked before were more financial minded businesses, which dictates the culture. Tui Ora has a whole different approach, it’s patient first,” he says.
“Using all the pillars to treat people, more than just symptoms, but as a person, I really like that. Sometimes it’s hard to implement that kind of style when you’re working in a practice by yourself, but when you have a whole culture of an organisation doing it, it makes it possible.”