About Us
Occu-Med is a nationally recognized leader in medical evaluations for employment, with a worldwide footprint of more than 15,000 locations supporting a combined employee population of more than 1 million people. Jim A. Johnson and Devonna M. Kaji, M.D., founded the firm in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1979 to assist public and private employers of all sizes to reduce the costs associated with the health and safety of their employees.
Because we began in the days when workers compensation claims were threatening to bankrupt both public agencies and private companies, Occu-Med’s approach is different from other pre-placement medical evaluations. We cover all sides of the process. Any doctor can tell you if an employee is healthy, but Occu-Med’s expertise takes legal knowledge, job demands and medical aspects into account in its decision making. Three facets. Three-dimensional feedback.
Statistics show that 41 percent of injuries occur during the first year on the job, which can cost an employer thousands of dollars per day. Matching the right person to the job, thanks to Occu-Med’s 3-part system, helps avoid these injuries, so employers save money. And our real-time results reporting now cuts the wait time by days. It’s a system that has worked for defense and government contractors; private agencies in the energy sector, construction firms and private education; local government departments; and public safety personnel.
In 2006, Occu-Med expanded its services to international companies.
And as seriously as we take our work, we’re about more than just systems and numbers. Community service is a core value at Occu-Med. Recent projects have included sponsoring hundreds of families in a surprise Santa project, rounding up 30,000 pounds of dog food for a dog rescue site and creating hundreds of care packages for homeless people and their pets.
Because at our core, Occu-Med is about people.
Executive Team
JIM JOHNSON
President & CEO
Jim Johnson, Occu-Med’s founder, envisioned an organization with such dedication to quality, customer service and innovation that it would be the obvious choice for employers desiring to reduce the number and severity of worker injuries. Now, nearly four decades later, this drive to offer the best service in the industry continues unabated. Mr. Johnson’s seminal innovation of adopting a strictly legal model to what had always been a medical undertaking, bore nearly immediate results as the company’s clients experienced significant reductions in the costs of both worker injuries and employment discrimination challenges.
Prior to founding Occu-Med, Mr. Johnson was a private consultant directing several major civil rights consulting projects in California, Hawaii, Washington and Oregon. Mr. Johnson was a Legal Analyst and, subsequently, Affirmative Action Advisor with the County Supervisors Association of California and a Legislative Analyst with the State of Hawaii’s Commission on the Handicapped.
Mr. Johnson, a graduate of the Ohio State University and the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law, remains dedicated to maintaining a company where every single staff member is fully committed to its Core Values of Quality, Customer Service, Diligence, Integrity, Humility and Positivity.
DEVONNA M. KAJI, M.D.
Director of Medical Research
As Director of Medical Reasearch,
Dr. Devonna M. Kaji oversees the research and application of all Occu-Med services. She also supervised the company’s medical standards development sessions in the Genitourinary System. A board-certified, fellowship-trained urologist, she has been a director at Occu-Med since 1979.
Previously, Dr. Kaji was a professor of urology and assistant chief of the department of urology at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, the University of Southern California and the University of Colorado. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of California, Berkeley, and the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii.
CHRISTOPHER ST. GEORGE
Director, Global Business Services
Chris St. George is responsible for the provision of Occu-Med’s services on a global scale–creating relationships with United States-based and overseas clients and strategic partners–allowing these services to be delivered wherever our client-employers need us. And, despite the typical hardships that arise from maintaining a global footprint, Occu-Med’s international projects, overseen by Mr. St. George, consistently receive ranks of “Industry-Best,” “Exceptional,” “Excellent,” and “the Clear Choice” from our clients for all of our service offerings.
Mr. St. George values diligence and trust as the keys to sustaining productive relationships with Occu-Med’s clients, And, when necessary, by positioning himself or his staff inside clients’ overseas operations, Mr. St. George is able to ensure each project is uniquely prepared to utilize our services in the most effective manner possible. Consistent collaboration with our clients by Mr. St. George allows Occu-Med to deliver “Turnkey” Occupational Health Programs no matter the scale of the project, from basic services such as a substance abuse screening program to multi-country pre-placement/pre-deployment and compliance-based periodic medical evaluations.
Mr. St. George joined Occu-Med in 2004. He is a graduate of the Craig School of Business at Fresno State University earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration. He also holds multiple certifications in compliance and management.
JARED H. KAJI
Vice President
Jared H. Kaji is Occu-Med’s Vice President and is chiefly responsible for the Company’s development and operations.
Mr. Kaji began his career at Occu-Med in 2003, while studying at California State University, Fresno, as an intern working in the Company’s EXAMQA Department. In this role, Mr. Kaji’s attention to detail, need for efficiency, and passion for nuance furthered the Company’s commitment to Quality and perpetuated a word-of-mouth marketing campaign. As a result, Mr. Kaji was promoted to the Company’s Director of Business Development in 2006.
Over the next ten years, as Director of Business Development, Mr. Kaji championed Occu-Med’s venture into the global marketplace – developing Occu-Med’s International Network of Medical Providers and the Company’s Scheduling and Harvesting Departments, while simultaneously promoting the service and building a client base comprised of more than a thousand public agencies, fortune 500 companies, and more than 60% of the Company’s target market within the government contracting arena.
Mr. Kaji currently spends his time developing and implementing solutions with Occu-Med’s client employers; enhancing relationships with strategic partners and vendors; and leading the operations team to achieve each client’s unique goals. In his words, “Each evaluation we perform is an opportunity to make a difference – we can save a life, prevent an injury, tear down arbitrary barriers to job placement for the disabled and more – we help a lot of people and we do it one evaluation at a time.”
SHERRI CONLEY
Controller
Sherri Conley is the Controller at Occu-Med, where she oversees the Company’s accounting, finance and network management operations.
Ms. Conley worked in healthcare finance prior to joining Occu-Med’s team as a Finance Analyst in 2007. In this role, Ms. Conley overhauled Occu-Med’s sprawling AR processes and systems to ensure prompt payment of accurate invoices for Occu-Med’s global network comprised of more than 15,000 medical providers. Ms. Conley was promoted to the Company’s Director of Finance following this achievement and her scope of responsibilities was expanded to include P&L, cash management, commercial bank relationship management and leading a staff of nine personnel.
Ms. Conley now focuses her efforts on maintaining the personnel, processes and systems she assembled over the course of her near-decade tenure at Occu-Med; assuring growth and maintenance of the Occu-Med Network; and developing Occu-Med’s corporate finance and tax strategies.
Ms. Conley is a graduate of the Craig School of Business at Fresno State University earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration specializing in Finance.