Surgeon not only treats gynecological cancer, but performs in band for charity
NEW YORK (WABC) -- A recent newspaper story about doctors who go above and beyond to help and heal threw a spotlight on a surgeon at Northern Westchester Hospital who once dreamt of becoming a singer.
Dr. Gizelka David-West is a gynecologist at Northern Westchester Hospital and Phelps Hospital, specializing in the treatment of female cancer, but she has also found a way to pursue her original dream.
As a young person, Dr. David-West was talented enough to attend not two of the city's great performing arts schools, but life took her in a different direction and now it's come full circle back to where she started.
By day, she's a gynecologist treating women with cancer, but some nights this doctor is a rocker.
Grammy winner Melissa Etheridge performed alongside Dr. David-West.
She's the lead singer in a band which takes its name from a very specific medical term.
"NED. No evidence of disease, and that's a term we use on our cancer patients at the end of their treatment when we do a post treatment scan that shows no evidence of disease," she said.
A positive, uplifting name for a band that plays for charity.
Each member of the group is a physician like her who treats women with cancer. In fact, the drummer actually trained Dr. David-West.
A performance is a full circle moment for this surgeon who once attended the famed Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City.
"When I started there I really thought I was headed to Broadway," she said.
But, when her family moved to North Carolina, she got serious about biology and then medicine.
"Going down the path of musical theater or entertainment I might have felt there was something missing and maybe I wouldn't have been as fulfilled, and now I feel very much fulfilled," Dr. David-West said.
She's fulfilled because she practices at Northern Westchester Hospital, part of the Northwell Health system, without neglecting her first love of singing.
"Do you ever regret the road not taken?" Sandy Kenyon asked.
"Well, not now," she said.
Dr. David-West says taking the stage as a singer has made her a better doctor because it's a way of taking care of herself. This mom of three will admit her kids think it's kind of cool that she's gaining her share of fame.
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