Tami received her bachelor's degree in Dietetics & Food Administration from Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and a Master of Public Health degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). As a clinical dietitian at the UCLA Medical Center, Tami provided individual counseling and patient education classes for the Departments of Internal and Family Medicine, specializing in eating and weight disorders, sports nutrition, and diabetes education. She was the lead dietitian of the Intensive Outpatient Eating Disorders Program at the UCLA Institute of Neuropsychiatry from 1988 to 1992. Tami was a contributing editor of Eating Disorders Review and a diabetes educator from 1988 to 2009.
At the University of California, Berkeley, Health Services, Tami helped develop the Eating Disorders Treatment Team, which provides nutritional, medical, and psychological assistance to students with eating disorders. At UC Berkeley, Tami was the nutrition specialist for student-athletes with eating and weight concerns. In 1998, Tami founded Healthy Living - Nutrition Counseling and Consulting LLC, a group practice to help individuals, families, and groups achieve their dietary and health goals through scientifically based methods.