Kei Okami was born as Nishida Keiko in Aomori Prefecture in 1858.

[3] In America, Kei Okami studied at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, receiving aid from the Women's Foreign Missionary Society of the Presbyterian Church.

Later, she closed the practice, and served as the vice-principal of Shoei Girls' school (a predecessor of the Shoei Girls' Junior and Senior High School), which was founded by her brother-in-law Kiyomune.

In 1897, she opened a small hospital for sick women in partnership with a friend, Mrs.

The hospital closed after nine years, as there were very few patients, mostly limited to foreign female preachers.