We tend to think of careers in black or white. You’re either an accountant or a chef. Never the twain shall meet. One dream must make room for another. Not in this physicians case, who has figured out a way to conjoin a childhood dream with his medical profession:

Dr. Eric Roter has two personas: an emergency room doctor who tends to cardiac arrests and accident victims and a Juilliard-trained cellist who uses his instrument to help cure the medical conditions he treats. Dr. Eric Roter plays the cello to raise awareness about ankylosing spondylitis.

His usual introduction to patients at Ohio’s Kaiser Permanente’s Cleveland Heights Medical Center is, “Hi, I’m Dr. Roter, where does it hurt?”

But now, as holiday giving reaches its peak, Roter and his cello are featured in a series of YouTube videos — “Bach to Health” — designed to raise funds for some of the toughest diseases, from lupus to cancer.

Making his debut as a soloist at New York City’s Lincoln Center at age 17, Roter abandoned a promising music career to study medicine. While he was heartened by helping others, he also felt a “betrayal for leaving an art that was so near and dear to me.”

As a student in New York, he occasionally performed as a street musician and never forgot the charity of passersby who tossed donations in his cello case.

Today, at 46, he has perfected the solo suites by Johannes Sebastian Bach — “the heart of cello literature” — and dedicated each of the 36 movements to a national medical charity.

“People trust me with their lives in the ER,” said Roter. “Perhaps they would trust me if I taught them a bit about some of the medical conditions I treat. Perhaps I could inspire people to donate to some great health care charities.”

His medical colleague at the hospital, Dr. Aaron R. Smith, said Roter likes the flexibility of emergency room shift work so he can pursue his art.

Source: ABC News