Feb. 24--This story originally appeared in the Sunday, Feb. 21 print edition of The News-Times. Click here to subscribe.
DANBURY -- Dr. Nimesh Nagarsheth, a gynecologic oncologist in Manhattan, spends his days saving lives. And when he leaves the hospital, he creates music to raise awareness and funding for women's cancers.
Just like the pink ribbon has become the symbol for breast cancer, the 38-year-old Danbury native wants his band, N.E.D., to become the symbol for gynecological cancer.
N.E.D. stands for "No evidence of disease." Made up of six gynecological oncologists from around the country, N.E.D. has released one album and is working on a second. The band plays alternative rock, and Nagarsheth plays drums, percussion and guitar.
The band members recently played in Portland, Ore., and Washington, D.C. Later this month, they will play in North Carolina and next month they have a show in California.
"There is a strong artistic side to medicine, and music can help bring that out," Nagarsheth said. "I bring that artistic side to the bedside when I talk to the patients and use it to make their medical issues easier to understand."
An EKG reading coming out of a machine, and a sheet of music notes look very similar, Nagarsheth said. It's up to the doctor to see the patient behind the reading, and it's up to the musician to put meaning to the sound.
Nagarsheth is also a published author. He wrote "Music and Cancer: A Prescription for Healing" (Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2010), which examines the healing powers of music and the arts for cancer patients. Actress Fran Drescher, a cancer survivor, wrote the forward.
Most of the proceeds from the album and all of the proceeds from the book go to The Gynecologic Cancer Foundation and local gynecologic cancer charities.
After the band played in Washington, D.C., they had a meeting with some producers from Spark Media, a documentary film company. Film makers are now following the six doctors around at work and outside of work.
"We decided to follow N.E.D. because we couldn't believe these six cancer surgeons, who spend so much time saving lives and giving a better quality of life to women, then had time, energy and commitment to work even harder on their behalf and pursue their passion for music," producer Karen Simon said.
Medicine can be very trying and intense because you deal with death and dying on a daily basis, said Nagarsheth, who is on the faculty of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York City.
He has practices at Mount Sinai and at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in Englewood, N.J.
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