by George Stamatis

Music and medicine are passions for Jenna I-Chun Liu, originally born in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.

Jenna I-Chun Liu with her Match Day envelope informing her that she has been accepted for a radiology residency.

Not only is she becoming a physician, she is also an accomplished violinist.

She uses her music now as a way of relieving stress in a hectic schedule and has been known to play during breaks at the hospital.

"Patients would come out of their rooms with their IV pole attached and listen to some soothing classical music. Now that I am no longer a professional violinist, I gain most happiness playing the violin if I could bring joy and relaxation to others as well," she said.

In 1998, this highly gifted young woman was named to USA Today's All-Stars team when she was a college senior at CWRU. She moved to the United States with her parents when she was 4 years old as her father pursued a radiology residency.

She moved back to Taiwan with her parents when she was 9 years old, but soon went abroad to London for musical training.

"At the age of 15, I decided I wanted to be a doctor as well as a musician; therefore, I came back to the U.S. for high school and later went on to college at Case Western Reserve University," she said. "I was given a full scholarship as well as a position in the Pre-Professional Scholars Program in medicine at CWRU. Plus with the proximity of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Cleveland Orchestra, it was not a hard decision for me to come to Cleveland for undergraduate work. I was able to double major in music and biology and enjoy the rich culture that the city had to offer."

She said she hopes to follow in her father's (as well as her godfather and husband's) footsteps by entering the field of radiology. She will do her residency at the University of California, San Diego, Medical Center.

"I see many parallels between music and medicine," she said. "To me, they are both arts. The art of discipline, hard work and attention to details apply to both fields of interest."

 

Legal Information | © 2003 Case Western Reserve University | Contact the Department