The Music Within Us - About Lisa Chu, MD

Founder and Executive Director, Lisa S. Chu, MD

Phone: (650) 325-2194

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About Us

Since beginning the study of piano at the age of three and violin at the age of four, Dr. Chu has experienced the impact of musical training in the pursuit of a wide range of academic and professional interests.

Dr. Chu received an A.B. magna cum laude in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard-Radcliffe College, and an M.D. from the University of Michigan Medical School. While at Harvard, she served as President of Lowell House Music Society, where her creative leadership initiatives were recognized with the coveted David Aloian Memorial Scholarship from the Harvard Alumni Association, the Elliot & Mary Perkins Prize, and the John V. Kelleher Prize. In 1993, she was named the Chicago Tribune’s Illinois High School Student of the Year.

Most recently, she spent three years in the venture capital industry, focused on emerging medical device and life science companies, and became the youngest partner-track investment professional at Primus Venture Partners in Cleveland, Ohio.

As a student of Betty Haag-Kuhnke, she appeared frequently as soloist on tour with the violin performing group, including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Orchestra Hall in Chicago, le Grand Theatre in Bordeaux, France, at the Vatican for Pope John Paul II, at the Stradivari Festival in Cremona, Italy, at the Strasbourg Music Festival, in Moscow, former USSR, for Boris Yeltsin, and on European and American national television.

Dr. Chu also served on Mrs. Haag-Kuhnke’s faculty at the Betty Haag Children’s Academy of Music for seven years, teaching private and group lessons and note-reading classes to children ages three through seventeen.

Dr. Chu has appeared as soloist with the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Kishwaukee Symphony, and the Waukegan Symphony, and, while in medical school, with the University of Michigan Campus Symphony Orchestra as winner of its annual concerto competition. She has given numerous solo recital performances as part of the Young Steinway Series and the Orpheus Chamber Music Series in Chicago.

Dr. Chu also has extensive experience as an orchestral player, as Concertmistress of the Lowell House Opera Orchestra at Harvard University, Assistant Concertmistress of the University of Michigan Campus Symphony Orchestra, and first violinist in the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, the Minneapolis Civic Orchestra and the Heights Chamber Orchestra.