Vicki Shimoyama, MD

We have been going to Dr. Shimoyama since my kids were babies. She has great energy and you can tell she truly loves her job! She’s compassinate and thorough which some pediatricians lack. We’re very happy and lucky to have her as our kids doctor. We highly recommend her. Tia and Munir Mahmud

When I moved back to LA I chose Dr. Shimoyama for my son based the stellar Unilocal reviews. I was unable to get my daughter in as her patient because she was not accepting newborns at that time (or currently) so my daughter gets seen by a different doctor in the group. I do agree with the reviews that Dr. Shimoyama is thorough and perfectly nice (though a bit impersonal but I guess it’s not their job to be friendly with the parents…). She is also an excellent diagnostician. With barely any symptoms she caught pneumonia in my 4 yo son very early on. That is worth A LOT in my books and is the reason why I am currently staying with her. The reason why my review is only 3 stars is that I feel extremely rushed during our appointments… maybe slightly less so during the well appointments (but those are just once a year!) and definitely so during sick appointments. I don’t know about you but when my child is sick I’m usually distraught, worried. That sometimes hinders me from articulating myself as clearly as I normally would. And our appointments with her are so rushed that she is literally out of the door in less than 5 min and I’m left with a bunch of questions I didn’t get to ask. At our last appointment I actually stopped by her office (door was open) on the way out to ask a very quick follow-​up question and she didn’t even turn around in her chair (her computer faces the wall opposite of the door) to answer me. :(Kinda rude, if you ask me. I wish it was easier to find a doctor who doesn’t rush you but I haven’t been able to find one in LA that isn’t all rush rush all the time.
Tips: They validate one car per appointment in the parking structure below the building. There are separate waiting rooms/​entrances for sick and well patients. Some doctors are hard to get an appointment with, Dr. Shimoyama included, but there are other doctors who are more available if you really need a doctor same day.

My son is a patient of Dr. Shimoyama since he turned 4 month old. We couldn’t be happier. She is very experienced, carrying, makes my son feel comfortable during his appointments. In fact, Dr. Shimoyama found a problem in his vision, she diagnosed him with cataract at regular check up appointment. She pays attention to every detail. We went through two eye surgeries and he is fine now only because our doctor caught the problem in time.
We also had to schedule same day appointment several times and never had an issue with that. If my son has to be seen by the doctor, I just call at 8.30 am and they usually tell me to come over during next hour or two. Office staff is very professional and helpful.

Dr. Shimoyama saved my daughters life. When she was two she got a bladder infection. Her doctor at the time said her high fever was due to Roseola, they never took blood or urine, they just assumed she had a virus. I went back several times but the office could not be bothered. Finally, I decided to look for a different doctor. Lucky for us it was Dr. Shimoyama. She immediately thought it might be a bladder infection, which it was. Unfortunately because of the negligence of the previous office, my daughter had to be hospitalized. I have complete confidence in Dr. Shimoyama who provides all of her patients with the best care. She is warm, very knowledgable and very thorough. We live very far from her office but, I feel my children are in the best hands with her. Also, if we need to be seen on the same day and she is not available, there are other doctors, not nurse practitioners or PA’s, doctors, who can see my children. I don’t mind the problem with parking or the front desk (which I have never experienced). I would rather deal with that any day if it means providing my children with the best medical care.

My first encounter with Doctor Shimoyama was pleasant, although I had to wait an hour and 20 minutes to see her… with my 2 week old baby. Since then, while she is thorough, she is also consistently late on an average of 30 minutes to an hour to be seen.
Our family goes to the doctor only when absolutely necessary. We’ve been blessed that, so far, that has only been for standard physicals at each milestone.
I chose to write the review for 2 reasons; #1, to shed some light… If you want a doctor with a publicist, rude front office and upon calling it takes three months to obtain an appointment– look no further.
#2, Upon bringing up my very valid concerns about our wait time, everytime– there was no accountability… I was blamed for being late. A patient who had an appointment 30 minutes after ours was taken before us. Weirdly passive, aggressive! Let me point out– We were NOT late. There was a line around the building to get into parking structure due to a failed computer glitch. We arrived 8 minutes after our scheduled appt.- 10 of which was in a line to get into structure.
At the end of the day… If it were just today we had this experience… this review would not be necessary. We seem to be the «unlucky» (per: her nurse) family who gets to wait on average 30 minutes to an hour– 3 months to be seen.
There are plenty of doctors in LA who provide excellent care without all the front desk attitude and forfeit having a publicist for providing great customer service, value your time & prioritize quality care.
The one star is for her thoroughness… the other is for her nurses… who really are very nice people!

Fantastic, after going through various Doctors for my kids, I am extremely happy with Dr. Vicky!

super friendly, knowledgeable (love that she’s evidence-​based but still realistic), patient, a great dresser, and seems to remember a lot of details about her patients (or maybe takes really great notes in our charts??). our OB recommended dr. shimoyama when we were looking for a pediatrician and we loved dr. s so much that we changed our insurance to ppo just so our kids could continue seeing her! she’s always really complimentary (great for new parents — she’ll say things like «what a nicely shaped head!» even though our newborn baby girl looked like a tiny old man), positive («your daughter is taller than 10% of babies!»), and educational without being condescending or causing us to be concerned. since i’m a big worry-​wart i like to read recommendations from the american academy of pediatrics book and like that dr. s follows most of the recommendations and at each visit will remind us what we’re supposed to be doing next (ex — when we should be doing tummy-​time, discontinuing the bottle/​pacifier, should start potty-​training, etc). she never rushes us and encourages questions, which is great. the percentile print-​outs are also kind of fun to track our kids’ progress (even if our girls have so far come in consistently smaller/​shorter than average — we like to claim it’s because we’re asian).
her staff are also really great — they are all friendly (even while they’re giving shots!) and the kids love the fun band-​aids and stickers at the end. please note that while other cedars doctors will take you early, dr. s is not one of them — since she spends more time with patients you won’t get seen until your appointment time if not slightly later — but she’s worth the wait!

We absolutely love Dr. Shimoyama! She is extremely caring and responsive and so is her staff. But this should not be surprising since she is part of the Cedars system. I’d suggest making an appointment but there is an Urgent Care office in the building just in case.

What isn’t there to say about Dr. Shimoyama. Ever since my son was born she has been his primary pediatrician. For every check up, she takes the time to ask questions to know more about my son other than just medical questions. My son has been a handful every time we go to the doctor, I’m so thankful that Dr. Shimoyama is patient. I’ve gone to other doctors offices when I’m out of the city and no one can be compared to her, it isn’t a quick in n out appointment, which I love because I feel that she takes the time to look at everything and listen to everything. I adore her!

My sister recommended Dr. Shimoyama. She is a research-​based physician who keeps up-​to-​date. At the same time, she isn’t pushy if you come to different conclusions about the same research. =) I like a doctor who is a doctor and doesn’t pretend to be a therapist, life coach, or child rearing expert. She may be all of those things to someone else, I have no idea, but she is really respectful of our happy, healthy family. The practice on the whole is well run and you can get appointments when you need to. No hours of sitting there. And we love having urgent care in the same building for preschool plagues or whatever.

I love dr shimoyama! she was my son’s dr when he was born at cedars sinai and so we just chose her as our pediatrician because we liked her so much at the hospital. we’ve been going to her since, but then we changed when we went to urgent care and had to see the on call dr at their office. did NOT like the on call dr at all. i think his name was dr brown. he was soooo un-​pediatrician like! my son was sick, i can’t remember why, and he was scolding me and making me feel bad for still tending to him in the middle of the night. i believe my son was only 9 months old at the time. anyways… i think i had such a bad experience with HIM, that i wanted to find a new pediatrician because i didn’t want to deal with HIM again.
so i tried a couple other more and none even compared to dr shimoyama. she is the nicest dr ever!!! and she doesn’t rush and, poor her, will answer ALL my questions (i always have a ton! lol.). she is SO knowledgeable and is so so nice! and best of all, my son LOVES her!!! i wish she would hurry up and open up her own private practice so we can see ONLY her! we love her =)

She is great… I have two girls that have been with her since they were born and she is caring & gentle with them always. We are vegans, so she understands our concerns about vaccines & certain medicines we don’t want our kids to have; she works with us and she is knowledgeable.

We come to LA for visiting and my baby got high degree of fever over 3 days. ER did not help too much, however; Dr. Shimoyama diagnosed quickly and told us the best way to take care of our baby. Dr. Shimoyama is very nice and professional.

I have a newborn, my husband has food poisoning and I am exhausted but I need to write this review. Good doctors should be awarded great reviews and should be recognized for their great work. And I hope this helps a mom looking for a great pediatrician.
Dr. Shimoyama is a great, super nice, knowledgeable and stylish doctor! She has been my baby’s doctor since she was born and I am very very pleased with her and all the staff from Cedars.
I am not working anymore and I unfortunately have to find a doctor from Medical now ~ and I really really don’t want to take my baby elsewhere.
Dear moms out there, if you have health net or other insurance that allows you to choose this doc as your pediatrician, please do so. For me. I am almost getting to the point of paying cash ($ 500+) and dismissing medical — THAT’s how great is Dr. Shimoyama.

My sons pediatrician was supposed to be another doctor in the same office, but she came to the hospital for the first check up. She was so friendly and had such a warm personality that we decided to keep going back to her. We continued to see her until we moved to chicago when my son was 7 months, but I wish I could have brought her with us! my son is now 3.5 and we havent found a doctor that compares. She always made sure to fully answer any questions we had and seems to overall be a very caring person. I would with out a doubt recommend her :)

We chose Dr. Shimoyama 3 ½ years ago bc she had been voted Best Pediatrician of Los Angeles at the time. Long story, but we ended up with another Pediatrician bc we had an emergency and she was on vacation. (The new DR kept having his nurse schedule our f/​u with him so we kinda got stuck. In hindsight, we should’ve refused.)
Well, we’re back to Dr. Shimoyama now and so glad. She really is a great combination of professional and personable. She is knowledgable and most importantly, my son likes her alot. She’s genuinely warm and makes you feel like she knows exactly who you and your child/​ren are. She remembers things from your past visits and that is definitely comforting. I am a person with lots of questions bc on top of being very curious, when it comes to my son, I want to be as informed as possible. Dr. Shimoyama is very thorough with her explanations and she’s patient. Highly recommend.

Dr. Shimoyama has been our pediatrician since the birth of our daughter a year ago. She is amazing. My husband and I are so happy with her and everyone else in the practice. They never make you feel stupid for coming in with a laundry-​list of questions (first time parents here…) and they are so patient and wonderful when we call. The nurses (especially Annabelle) are amazing and helpful. We’ve seen a few of the other doctors in the practice who are good, too, but cannot recommend Dr. Shimoyama enough! We feel that we are in such good hands every time we go in there.

Last December, I hadn’t yet picked a pediatrician & was running around at the last minute trying to find one before I was scheduled to go in for them to induce labor. I called the office & they told me that Dr. Shimoyama would be the pediatrician on rotation at Cedars the day I was scheduled to give birth & she was great then (ended up having to have a c-​section) & we’ve been with her ever since.
She’s just so nice & knowledgeable. Never tries to rush you or blow you off/​be dismissive. And she always remembers my daughter, always. Good dresser too! ;-)

I recently had my first baby and chose Dr Shimoyama as his Pediatrician. Both my husband and I are extremely pleased with her. She is very knowledgeable and pleasant as well. She always takes her time and we never feel rushed. We also never wait more than 10 minutes to see her. We feel very lucky to have found her!

When I gave birth to my daughter, we hadn’t picked a pediatrician yet. She did the initial exam and we were asked to come into her office for a follow up. I found her to be pleasant and answered all my questions patiently.
We went in for the follow up visit. We soon changed pediatricians to something closer to our house, but after one visit we went straight back to Dr. Shimoyama.
She has a lovely bedside manner AND she remembers you! Many doctors forget who you are and have to look at a chart. I recommended my friends to her and she totally remembered who we were and our names!
She’s very open to what you have to say but will nicely disagree if she disagrees with you.
I would definitely recommend her to any new parents!