Charles Sanky is more than a medical student—he is a musician. He began his musical start at four years old, playing the piano. Since then, he has furthered his interest in music and has learned multiple instruments including the violin, trumpet, and even the euphonium—which he played during the four years he was a member of Columbia University’s Wind Ensemble—among others. 

Charles sees music as an integral part of medicine, and is determined to maintain his dual identities throughout his medical career.  “Music and medicine is interconnected,” Charles says. “It’s really a universal language and it will help me become a better physician because it will serve as a reminder of the need to be sensitive to different styles and voices, and to be an intentional listener.”

Watch Charles’ musical skill in action as he presents a classical piece—with a twist.

 


ABOUT CHARLES

Charles Sanky is a first-year medical student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) and is a native New Yorker from Valley Stream. Before graduating with a degree in psychology and business management from Columbia University, Charles took a non-traditional approach to medical school through ISMMS’ FlexMed Program. He is interested in learning how performance and music can empower patients and providers. He hopes to practice as a physician and contribute to public health policy.

 

How to Save a Life: Confessions from the Front Line

As is the case with most medical schools, the institution at which I receive my medical education is home to a myriad of student interest groups for nearly every clinical specialty.There’s your standard fare of IMIG, PIG, and SIG (for internal medicine, pediatrics, and surgery respectively), but then there are a few that are a bit more esoteric, such as the Transplant Surgery Interest Group (TSIG).
read more

Race and Racism in Medicine: An Evening with Dr. Mary T. Bassett

When we invited Dr. Mary T. Bassett, commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, to speak about racism in the health care system at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS), we knew that it would be a powerful conversation.
read more

A Modern Family of Medicine

Whenever anyone asks how many siblings I have, I just start laughing. It’s not a very straightforward story, but the direct answer is incredibly high; something like 27. 
read more

Inspiring Innovation One High School Student at a Time

As the health care sector continues to face new challenges every day like rapidly rising costs and an increasing prevalence of chronic disease, the need for innovation is becoming exceedingly apparent. Now more than ever, we need people to disrupt the status quo and develop revolutionary innovations aimed at solving some of our most unsolvable problems. 
read more

We Are Not Throwing Away Our Spot

It started with a simple Facebook post in October 2016.
read more

Still Waiting for Someone to Pinch Me

The White Coat Ceremony is a rite of passage for beginning medical students that creates a psychological contract for professionalism and empathy in the practice of medicine. Slavena Salve Nissan, MD Candidate 2020, reflects on the ceremony's impact on her first step towards becoming a doctor. 
read more

The History of “Histories”

Sue Li always knew she was going to be a writer. “I’ve been sort of writing my whole life,” she says. “Ever since I was a kid, I was always writing short stories in my notebook.” Growing up as an only child who emigrated from China into the United States at the age of four, she often visited the library and could always be found with her head in a book—transporting herself to new worlds almost daily. Her frequent library visits also instilled in her a desire to have her own book on the shelf one day. 
read more

A [Paint] Nite in with SinaiArts

It’s a strange sight. Medical students not pounding the keys of their laptops. Not tapping on the screens of their iPhones. Not talking about going to an event or pursuing a research opportunity. In fact, not talking at all. Just dipping brushes into bright acrylic paints and with the focus and childlike joy of their younger selves, creating a landscape from the blank canvas in front of them. 
read more

Vision (1-3): Perception, Self-Awareness, and Fantasy

Vision (1-3) alludes to our naive fascination—an exploration of perception, self-awareness, and fantasy.
read more

Chopin with a Twist

Charles Sanky is more than a medical student—he is a musician. He began his musical start at four years old, playing the piano. Since then, he has furthered his interest in music and has learned multiple instruments including the violin, trumpet, and even the euphonium—which he played during the four years he was a member of Columbia University's Wind Ensemble—among others. 
read more

Haiku

Reading for pleasure after a drought feels, I imagine, like a marine animal breaching. Nowadays, an essay stands for indulgence; its serif fonts recall a time when my life was consumed by books (or rather, spent in their consumption). I catch glimpses of a world above, where epic meant poetry, meant story, meant the telling of tales til break of dawn, rather than the late-night perusal of electronic medical records in preparation for morning rounds. A haiku was not written finger-to-phone.
read more

Totentanz

Totentanz

Outside the wind tears

still-green leaves from their branches

pulling them up and off 

like a corn shucker

ripping husk from kernels.


read more

We Are Not Throwing Away Our Spot

It started with a simple Facebook post in October 2016.
read more

The History of “Histories”

Sue Li always knew she was going to be a writer. “I’ve been sort of writing my whole life,” she says. “Ever since I was a kid, I was always writing short stories in my notebook.” Growing up as an only child who emigrated from China into the United States at the age of four, she often visited the library and could always be found with her head in a book—transporting herself to new worlds almost daily. Her frequent library visits also instilled in her a desire to have her own book on the shelf one day. 
read more

Chopin with a Twist

Charles Sanky is more than a medical student—he is a musician. He began his musical start at four years old, playing the piano. Since then, he has furthered his interest in music and has learned multiple instruments including the violin, trumpet, and even the euphonium—which he played during the four years he was a member of Columbia University's Wind Ensemble—among others. 
read more

Pitching Novel Ideas for Sustainable Solutions

Doctors do incredible things; they treat disease and improve the health of their patient populations.  Unfortunately, this has come at a price. Literally.
read more

Inspiring Innovation One High School Student at a Time

As the health care sector continues to face new challenges every day like rapidly rising costs and an increasing prevalence of chronic disease, the need for innovation is becoming exceedingly apparent. Now more than ever, we need people to disrupt the status quo and develop revolutionary innovations aimed at solving some of our most unsolvable problems. 
read more

Skipping the Gym to Walk with a Doc

In a city where gym memberships run as high as $200 a month (with restrictive hours and the long term commitments), two of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai’s best qualities really come to a fore: 
read more

We Are Not Throwing Away Our Spot

It started with a simple Facebook post in October 2016.
read more

Still Waiting for Someone to Pinch Me

The White Coat Ceremony is a rite of passage for beginning medical students that creates a psychological contract for professionalism and empathy in the practice of medicine. Slavena Salve Nissan, MD Candidate 2020, reflects on the ceremony's impact on her first step towards becoming a doctor. 
read more

Looking In

Every year, students at the Icahn School of Medicine write Op-Ed articles about topics in health care and advocacy to culminate InFocus 4. Charlotte Austin's article, “Looking In” was one of the 10 exemplary articles selected to appear in the  Physicians as Advocates—InFocus 4, and focuses on marginalized identities. We share her story. 
read more