Four medical students with a passion for music have formed a singing group called the VaccinAsians.
The students met in the medical students' choir (the Courtyard Choir) and decided to form their own ensemble. The group includes second-year students Jiancheng Choo and Michael Wong, and third-year students Phil Quon and Jon Yeung. They have their own video on YouTube that has garnered more than 13,000 views.
"We wanted to find a name for our group that was both medically related and funny," said Wong. "It just sort of came up, and then stuck."
Three years ago, Choo was a guest performer on a popular Hong Kong TV show known as The Voice, akin to American Idol in North America. The TV opportunity wasn't something Choo had planned. He originally travelled overseas for summer research on Alzheimer's disease. While in Hong Kong, he was performing at a small coffee shop, when he caught the attention of the manager of a major record label. The manager requested that Choo be featured on The Voice.
"He seemed to enjoy my music, so he asked if I would like to perform on the television show, and that's how it started," recalled Choo.
Since then, he has been posting videos of his music performances on YouTube, amassing over 14,000 subscribers and almost 2 million views.
The other group members had similar stories about how their passions for music developed. Wong started piano lessons as a youngster, and played a bit of guitar. He was also very involved in a music team at his church. Quon's interest in music started when his parents enrolled him in piano lessons as a child. He later joined various choirs. And Yeung said his high school friends introduced him to musical theatre.
The group members say they are thankful they met during choir practice and that they have so much in common - a passion for music and medicine, and friendship.
"Even though medical school keeps all of us pretty busy, it's great that we can find time to hang out and make music together," says Quon. "Because we usually have many ideas for songs, creating arrangements tends to be quite a long process. However, the upside is that rehearsals are always filled with fun and lots of laughter."