diff --git a/src/python/grpcio/tests/_loader.py b/src/python/grpcio/tests/_loader.py
index 14b22b08460edbc562dd541f855beac7b6d09a68..6992029b5e801c0bedf17c89f30c7a6b7c56d054 100644
--- a/src/python/grpcio/tests/_loader.py
+++ b/src/python/grpcio/tests/_loader.py
@@ -34,14 +34,6 @@ import unittest
 
 import coverage
 
-# Some global spooky-action-at-a-distance hackery to get around
-# system-installation issues where the google namespace is defaulted to the
-# system even though the egg is higher priority on sys.path. This inverts the
-# path priority on package module paths thus giving any installed eggs higher
-# priority and having little effect otherwise.
-import google
-google.__path__.reverse()
-
 TEST_MODULE_REGEX = r'^.*_test$'
 
 
diff --git a/src/python/grpcio/tox.ini b/src/python/grpcio/tox.ini
index 0e3cae7861bd176c1070fc722d503e862c0c4731..bfb1ca0cfada221126fd49fdf7b560d9d5cded8b 100644
--- a/src/python/grpcio/tox.ini
+++ b/src/python/grpcio/tox.ini
@@ -15,8 +15,5 @@ commands =
     coverage html --include='grpc/*' --omit='grpc/framework/alpha/*','grpc/early_adopter/*','grpc/framework/base/*','grpc/framework/face/*','grpc/_adapter/fore.py','grpc/_adapter/rear.py'
     coverage report --include='grpc/*' --omit='grpc/framework/alpha/*','grpc/early_adopter/*','grpc/framework/base/*','grpc/framework/face/*','grpc/_adapter/fore.py','grpc/_adapter/rear.py'
 deps =
-    cython
-    coverage
-    oauth2client
-    protobuf
+    -rrequirements.txt
 passenv = *
diff --git a/tools/jenkins/grpc_interop_python/Dockerfile b/tools/jenkins/grpc_interop_python/Dockerfile
index 5850f5f321e0794c75ae0c52e0f2865b5d980545..6034cbf95504719cc3fc9649d48902cd5cc51859 100644
--- a/tools/jenkins/grpc_interop_python/Dockerfile
+++ b/tools/jenkins/grpc_interop_python/Dockerfile
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ RUN ln -s /usr/bin/ccache /usr/local/bin/clang++
 # Install Python requisites
 RUN /bin/bash -l -c "pip install --upgrade pip"
 RUN /bin/bash -l -c "pip install virtualenv"
+RUN /bin/bash -l -c "pip install tox"
 
 # Define the default command.
 CMD ["bash"]
diff --git a/tools/run_tests/build_python.sh b/tools/run_tests/build_python.sh
index 7db14ce9d127444917ea670dea41a5488735671b..57080ce9348dce69599b1b3372f2e340d6a2261b 100755
--- a/tools/run_tests/build_python.sh
+++ b/tools/run_tests/build_python.sh
@@ -45,3 +45,5 @@ export GRPC_PYTHON_ENABLE_CYTHON_TRACING=1
 
 cd $GRPCIO
 tox --notest
+
+$GRPCIO/.tox/py27/bin/python $GRPCIO/setup.py build
diff --git a/tools/run_tests/run_interop_tests.py b/tools/run_tests/run_interop_tests.py
index be476200480dbb0d5760b4780121ac53dd407480..02ed1d1e6c48a2f2e12c5a855a623251f1d5c945 100755
--- a/tools/run_tests/run_interop_tests.py
+++ b/tools/run_tests/run_interop_tests.py
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@ class PythonLanguage:
 
   def client_cmd(self, args):
     return [
-        'python2.7_virtual_environment/bin/python',
+        'src/python/grpcio/.tox/py27/bin/python',
         'src/python/grpcio/setup.py',
         'run_interop',
         '--client',
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ class PythonLanguage:
 
   def server_cmd(self, args):
     return [
-        'python2.7_virtual_environment/bin/python',
+        'src/python/grpcio/.tox/py27/bin/python',
         'src/python/grpcio/setup.py',
         'run_interop',
         '--server',