Koji Nakashima

Koji Nakashima, 47, of Jamaica Plain died at home surrounded by family on Sunday, March 19, 2023. Koji was born in Los Angeles and raised in Mission Viejo, California. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University, Koji attended Loyola Chicago School of Medicine and went on to complete a combined medicine-pediatrics and global health equity residency at Brigham and Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Boston. During residency, he began working for Partners in Health in Haiti, where he devoted many years of service. He was in Haiti during the devastating January 2010 earthquake, became part of the critical earthquake response, and diagnosed and treated some of the first people affected by the cholera epidemic in Haiti later that year.

Koji was an attending physician in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He loved working alongside his colleagues, teaching residents and medical students, and caring for the thousands of patients he met over his career. When Koji was not at the hospital, he was home with his two daughters. He referred to himself as a part-time doctor and a full-time dad. Koji devoted his time at home to sharing his wicked sense of humor, his beliefs in equity and social justice, and his love of the ocean and hiking, raising his kids to be funny, fierce, and fearless. Koji’s untimely diagnosis of advanced kidney cancer did not slow him down; he cherished every second he had to be with his family and friends, still paddle boarding, snorkeling, and hiking within a couple of months of his death.

Koji is survived by his loving wife, Erin George, his beloved daughters, Fiona and Bridget, his parents, Isamu and Kazue Nakashima of Walpole, MA, his brother, Kenji Nakashima of the Czech Republic, his in-laws, Charles and Laura George of Jamaica Plain, MA, his sisters-in-law, Anna George (Marcos Duque) of West Roxbury, MA, Marin George (Charlie Knight) of Lake Placid, NY, and Amelia George of West Roxbury, MA, his nieces and nephews, the Delaney-Anderson-Kersey clan, incredible extended family, and the many phenomenal friends and colleagues who have shown such incredible kindness, generosity, and support during Koji’s illness. Koji will always be remembered for his smile and laugh, his infinite energy, and his steadfast belief that every person is important and has the ability to change the world. Koji is so loved and his time was far too short. Donations in his memory can be made to the wonderful hospice team at Care Dimensions.

At the request of the family, services for Koji will be private.