Tomoko graduated with a PhD in Psychology from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in 2004. Her PhD thesis examined adaptation to new cultural environments and productivity among international students and expatriate managers. Tomoko's honours thesis in psychology, also obtained from UNSW (1996), examined historical changes in psychiatric diagnosis and analysed interrater reliability of diagnosis based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders-3rd edition revised.

Tomoko brings to the ANU over 25 years of experience in working with health data in Australia and internationally as well as cross-sector leadership experience. Tomoko was one of the first cohort of full-fee paying international students. She began her career in the mid-1990s as a mental health researcher in the National Institute of Mental Health in Japan. Since then she has taught post-graduate level subjects in research methods and intercultural communication at the University of Technology, Sydney, presented at a number of academic conferences, authored articles in peer-reviewed journals, and worked as an international management consultant in the area of salesforce resource planning across Asia-Pacific countries.

In the most recent 12 years, Tomoko led strong teams in the Australian Public Service supporting evidence-based health policy. From 2010 to 2016, Tomoko managed teams reporting on chronic disease and national data development at the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. From 2017 to 2022, she led teams shaping strategic direction in Indigenous health data, contributing to the National Agreement on the Closing the Gap and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan 2021-2031.

Tomoko's leadership and team building capabilities developed through her work in the private sector, academic research envionment, and the public service.