As a physician, musician and teacher, Dr. Ben Chan – Dr. Ben – has spent his life listening to people, their stories and the songs he has long kept tucked quietly in the background while life moved swiftly around him.
“The core of what we do in medicine is listening,” says the 61- year-old primary care physician and experienced emergency room doctor. “We try to understand where people are coming from, to show empathy and to recognize the emotional side of what they’re experiencing.”
A physician and healthcare leader, Dr. Ben has spent decades caring for patients in 97 communities across Canada and around the world. Alongside a career in medicine, teaching, public service and global health, he has been quietly building another life shaped by a lifelong love of music.
“I took vocal lessons from Melody School of Music in Leaside,” he says. “In the two years of intensive online coaching during Covid, my vocal coach Aksana transformed my voice.”
A Leaside resident since 2001 (along with wife Julia Schindeler and sons Adin and Ethan), he has stepped more fully into his musical passion over the past five years, sharing songs that were years – sometimes decades – in the making.
Mastering a fifth career
He jokingly calls music his fifth career, but there is nothing casual about the way he approaches it. Music has been part of his world since childhood. He grew up in a musical family and picked up the guitar while at university.
“When I was a graduate student, I started writing my own music,” he says. Life, however, had other plans. He went on to study at some of the world’s leading institutions, completing a Master of Public Affairs at Princeton and a Master of Public Health at Harvard.
He built a demanding professional life as a physician, academic and global health advocate, working with organizations including the World Bank. Over the past 35 years, he has worked in many communities, often small or remote. Through all of it, his songs have stayed with him.
“There were bills to pay, family, career – all the responsibilities that come with adult life,” he says. “But I never forgot about my music. I never forgot about my dream.” His version of the classic I’ve Been Everywhere chronicles his travels.
In recent years, he began revisiting that dream in earnest, working with a producer and songwriting coach to refine older material and shape new songs. Some changes were subtle; others transformed the pieces completely. The result is a growing collection of releases now available on streaming platforms. Songs that are deeply personal, emotionally wide ranging and unequivocally Dr. Ben.
“I’ve found that moments of inspiration can be fleeting,” he says. “When they come, I have to drop everything and grab onto them. If I don’t, they disappear.”
His music often explores heartbreak, longing, and resilience – not because he lives in those emotions, he says, but because they reflect the full range of human experience.
His work as a physician has shaped his perspective. The emotional truths he encounters in healthcare often find their way into his music through metaphor and melody.
“There is a healing aspect to music,” he says. Sometimes he plays for patients in hospital settings; other times he performs on public stages, including a recent appearance at The Groove Room at St. Augustine of Canterbury Anglican Church in Leaside.
For Dr. Ben, the journey has been gradual – karaoke, open mics, small gigs, and now larger opportunities. His advice to anyone considering a creative leap later in life is simple: go for it.
“It’s never too late to pursue a dream,” he says. “I’m planning on enjoying the trip as much as I can.” Visit drbenmusic.com for more information.
