Hanjay Wang: “I cannot imagine a more fulfilling career path”

As conductor and co-founder of the CUMC Symphony Orchestra, Hanjay Wang is adept at managing a multitude of parts that coalesce into a whole. This might be traced back in part to his love of biology, which he studied as an undergraduate at Harvard. “How could one describe the mechanisms of life on a molecular level?” says Dr. Wang. “How do the smallest components add up to what we call life or contribute to a disease? I think it’s remarkable that all of life as we know it can be described using the same genetic code and molecular mechanisms—similar, in a way, to how nearly all Western music can be described with notes on a staff using the same system.”

Dr. Wang credits his training as an orchestral conductor with helping him to develop a meticulous attention to detail, as well as the work ethic and leadership and communication skills he hopes to apply in his career as a cardiac surgeon. He will begin his residency in cardiothoracic surgery at Stanford University. He hopes it will be the start of an academic career that synthesizes time spent in the operating room with clinical and basic science research, teaching, and work in bioengineering and design. “I want to be remembered as an innovator and visionary in this rapidly evolving field,” he says. “Although there’s a very long journey ahead, I cannot imagine a more fulfilling career path.”

At P&S, Dr. Wang worked alongside his mentor, surgeon Paul Chai, MD, to study a rare pediatric heart condition, scimitar syndrome. Dr. Wang’s research project involved compiling and analyzing data on patients with this condition who have ever been seen at CUMC. The goal is to map out the natural history of the disease and evaluate both surgical and nonsurgical outcomes. The study, which they hope to publish soon, is the second-largest such study ever done. Dr. Chai is also a fellow musician. “He’s been a truly outstanding mentor,” says Dr. Wang. “I could not have asked for a better role model. I especially appreciate how he always asks about the nonmedical side of my life, too. I feel that I can talk to him about anything on my mind.”

Dr. Wang has been grooming successors at P&S—Stephen Ma, a pianist, and Elliott Huang and Jeremy Ying, both violinists—to take over leading and conducting the orchestra. At his final concert, he conducted “Peter and the Wolf” at the P&S Alumni Reunion Weekend. The performance was narrated by Jay Lefkowitch, MD, professor of pathology & cell biology at CUMC, who interviewed Dr. Wang for P&S, persuaded him to come to P&S, and suggested that he relaunch the symphony orchestra. “It was a fitting end to my time here at Columbia.”