Med School takes to stage for benefit

For one night, costumes and (musical) instruments replace clinical gear

(above left) Professor Mark Williams (second from left) sings with Boanerges. (above right) Medical student Phil Nguyen sings a Vietnamese love song while wearing a traditional Vietnamese wedding robe.
(below left)Jose Espada, IUSM director of student financial services, (far right) performs with students Mary Ellen Cavalier, piano, and Denise Clemens, vocalist. (below right)Tista Ghosh, a first-year medical student, performs a classical Indian dance in traditional costume.

(Editor's note: Thanks to Ellen Gullett at the Office of Public and Media Relations at the IU School of Medicine for pictures above and information for this story.)

By Jayne Spencer

For one evening, they put aside their medical instruments and picked up musical ones. Scrubs and clinical jackets gave way to costuming.

Rarely does the Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) community get to hear Jose Espada, director of student financial services, sing in German. Or Professor Mark Williams fronting a rock band as lead vocal.

But they got that chance earlier this month, and the students got to strut their non-medical stuff as well at the sixth annual Evening of the Arts, a performing and visual arts showcase featuring students, faculty and staff. The IUSM event was the University Place Conference Center at IUPUI April 3.

Williams, a clinical assistant professor of medicine, sings and plays guitar for the rock band Boanerges. Espada performed that evening with Denise Clemens, a third-year medical student, and was accompanied by Mary Ellen Cavalier, a second-year medical student. Also performing were Professor Tim Pettigrew and Chuck Jerden of the IUSM Development Office. Twenty-seven acts in all performed. Emcee for the evening was WTHR-TV's news reporter Jill Ditmire.

The event raised $4,000 to benefit programs, shelters and clinics for the Indianapolis-area homeless community. Specifically, health-care supplies and equipment will be purchased for Wheeler Mission, the Salvation Army Clinic, Horizon House and St. Thomas Clinic, where many IU medical students volunteer their time to provide health-care services to the homeless.

During the performance, some of the students related their experiences about working in the shelters and clinics, a rewarding opportunity, they related, that puts medicine and service into perspective.

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