Drew Mays

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Andrew J. "Drew" Mays (born 1961 in Decatur) is an ophthalmologist at the Birmingham Veterans Administration Medical Center, director of the residency program at the UAB School of Medicine and an acclaimed amateur pianist, winner of the amateur division of the 2007 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Mays earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in music at the University of Alabama, studying under Amanda Penick. He also studied at the graduate level at the Manhattan School of Music and the Conservatory of Music in Hanover, Germany. He began working on his PhD in medicine in 1987, at which point he put aside his musical ambitions.

After serving an internship at Carraway Methodist Medical Center and a chief-residency at the Eye Foundation Hospital, Mays went on to complete a fellowship in glaucoma at the University of Florida. He then returned to Birmingham and founded a private practice, which he has maintained after joining the staff of the VA Hospital and the UAB faculty. He began practicing the piano again in 2002, in part as an example for his children. He won 2nd prize at the Rocky Mountain amateur competition in 2006 and 1st prize at the Van Cliburn on June 3, 2007. He performed in Fort Worth, Texas in the afternoon of the same day he performed glaucoma surgery in Tuscaloosa in the morning.

Mays and his wife, Therese, have four children.

References

  • Huebner, Michael (June 4, 2007) "Local doctor is piano champ: First-rate playing caps amateur win." Birmingham News
  • Huebner, Michael (June 14, 2007) "Mays brings winning piano skills home to Alabama." Birmingham News
  • "Whirlwind year earns Mays spot on ASC stage and more." (January 21, 2008) UAB Reporter Vol. 32, No. 8
  • Ratliff, Phillip (January 28, 2008) "Mays plays with surgeon's precision." Birmingham News
  • Ratliff, Phillip (January 25, 2009) "Pianist Mays waltzes through recital in style." Birmingham News

External links