UAMS Celebrates Holidays with Music, Dance

By Jon Parham

 Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D., plays some holiday favorites on piano.
Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D., plays some
holiday favorites on piano.
A group of graduate students dance to
A group of graduate students dance to “All I
Want For Christmas Is You.”
Sleigh Ride! Dick Wheeler, M.D., provides the whip cracking sound for the Etesian Winds Trio.
Sleigh Ride! Dick Wheeler, M.D., provides the whip cracking sound for the Etesian Winds Trio.
Santa hands out candy canes.
Santa hands out candy canes.

Medical student Gary Berner performs
on guitar and kazoo.

| Dec. 20, 2010 | The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) celebrated Christmas and the holidays with song and dance during a special Dec. 17 concert featuring employees and students.

The receptive, standing-room-only crowd about 200 delighted in vocal and instrumental performances of holiday favorites. There also was a dance number and an illusionist in a varied and festive hour-long show held in the Hospital Lobby Gallery.

UAMS Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D., began the show on piano, with holiday classics “Let It Snow,” “Silver Bells” and “White Christmas.”

Third-year medical student Gary Berner entertained on guitar with “Pray For You” and “San Francisco Blues.” Next, James Suen, M.D., wowed the audience with illusion and sleight of hand.

Marcus Murphy of Academic Services lent his tenor voice to favorite holiday carols “Silent Night” and “O Come Let Us Adore Him.”

A group of students in the Graduate School and College of Public Health performed an energetic dance routine to “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” The group included Joi Chen, Letha McGarity and Ara Kim of the Graduate School and Zuakernah Belo of the College of Public Health.

The Etesian Winds Trio performed “Jingle Bells,” “Deck the Halls,” “Little Drummer Boy” and “Sleigh Ride.” The trio, who also perform in the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, featured Diane McVinney, a billing manager in ophthalmology, on flute; Beth Wheeler, director of operations for the Medical College Physicians Group, on oboe; and Susan Bell Leon, assistant dean for finance, on bassoon. On “Sleigh Ride,” the trio was joined by master of ceremonies, Dick Wheeler, M.D., who humorously used his belt to provide the sound of the cracking whip.

Brian Carpenter, a program administrator in the Department of Internal Medicine, gave moving vocal performances of “O Holy Night,” “Mary Did You Know?” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

Dick Wheeler, accompanied on piano by Pat Torvestad of the Office of Communications and Marketing, closed the show with the spoof “The 12 Days After Christmas.”