The only image most of us have of our doctors involves white lab coats and examination rooms. Of course, we realize they have lives of their own beyond the office, but we might not realize just how remarkable their hobbies and talents can be.
SLUCare cardiothoracic surgeon Dawn Hui was like most high-schoolers when she graduated: unsure of what to do next. Her father, an ER doctor, influenced her interest in medicine. On the other hand, she had taken violin lessons since the age of 6 and was talented enough to consider it as more than just a hobby. “I was very interested in the violin but didn’t know if I wanted it to be a career,” she recalls. “My teacher advised me to pursue the violin first so I didn’t lose my skills.”
Hui atte
nded Oberlin College before transferring to Juilliard her junior year. “After a semester, I realized I wouldn’t be happy playing the violin long-term, but I finished my degree,” she says. After graduating in 1997, she toured with the Juilliard orchestra to Japan and Korea for the summer. When she visited relatives in Hong Kong, she auditioned for and was accepted by the Hong Kong Philharmonic.
Her stint in Hong Kong, however, only confirmed what she was already feeling. “I missed the intellectual challenge of something more scientific and objective,” she says. Hui started a pre-med program at Columbia University, but continued to play as part of a quartet at weddings and parties. Today, she helped form the Heart Quartet with three women from the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. “We played special musical performances during Heart Month in February to educate women about heart disease. They were open to the public and well-received, so we hope to make it an annual event.”
Dr. Michael Horwitz, of Feet for Life Podiatry Centers and Clean Spa, describes himself as a frustrated musician. He has been a podiatrist for close to 30 years but has never forgotten—or truly given up—his creative, musical side. “I’ve always loved music,” he says. “When I was 18, I needed something else to do besides high school athletics, so I started playing the guitar.” He played at local coffee shops in college and eventually released an album in 1996, Dangerous Ground. “It was fun to put together,” he says. “Local shops sold it, and 100 percent of the proceeds benefited children who were uninsured.”
Little did he know that it would be nearly 20 years until he got back in the studio. “A producer friend of mine called me at a time I was ready to give up,” Horwitz recalls. “My studio in the basement was drawing dust. He gave me the name of a guy named Luke in Nashville, and it took me about a month to call him.” That was two and a half years and 150 songs ago. Performing under the name C.W. Hughes, Horwitz’s music is pure country and waiting to be shared with the public. “Songs are online now and available on iTunes, and the next step is to start playing live shows,” he says. His bandmates, with whom he was connected through patients, practice with Horwitz often, and he also hosts a music club in his studio in Chesterfield. “It’s more than just entertainment for me,” he says. “It’s a passion.”
