Michener’s Catherine Ladhani (Radiography, ’93), Academic Chair, Medical Radiation Sciences, says she’s fortunate to have pursued two passions in life – health sciences and piano.

“There’s been a piano in my house for as long as I can remember,” she says. “It was the first thing my parents bought after they purchased their first home.”
Catherine’s talent was identified early when she taught herself Little Drummer Boy after hearing it on the radio at the age of 5. Her parents promptly got her into lessons, and she competed in her first piano competition on her eighth birthday, placing fourth.

“My piano teacher had told me to play my piece slowly to get everything right, but the adjudicator explained afterwards that I had played it too slow,” she says.

She has been told she walked to the back of the room where her piano teacher was sitting to express her dismay at the direction she received, in a polite yet firm manner. “No teacher ever attended one of my competitions after that,” she says with a laugh.

Catherine would progress too quickly – at one point her hands were not grown enough to play the more technical pieces she was ready to learn. As she awaited a growth spurt, she learned the organ. She would work as an organist at multiple churches.

She completed Grade 10 Royal Conservatory piano exams by age 16, the same year she began winning the top awards in piano at music competitions. She says that was the time to make a tough decision.

“I realized I was competing against people who made their whole life about practicing piano, but I was torn between science and music,” she says. “I always felt my purpose in life was to help others, and I saw that path more clearly going through healthcare, so I chose science.”

Catherine kept competing in and winning music competitions until she left home for university. While studying physiology at McGill she expanded her music interests into singing, joining the university’s choral society and a renowned Montreal youth choir. She also worked as a church organist and took music courses as electives.

“My fellow music students would see my pharmacology notes and wonder if it was a fancy form of musical notation,” she says.

Upon arriving at Michener for radiography, she sourced out pianos to play in the music department of the Eaton’s Department Store.

“I fell in love with radiography almost instantly, but I still wanted to play,” she says. “I went to Eaton’s, introduced myself and said that I’m never here to buy anything, but every so often I need my fix.”

They asked her if she could play, and as she performed for them people gravitated to the store. “They told me I could stop by and play anytime.”

Following marriage, the start of a healthcare career and a family, piano took a backseat. She would not play for 15 years until her father retired – as he downsized, Catherine was able to claim the family piano.

“I could still play two pieces from memory,” she says. “I got about a minute into playing and had to stop – everything came rushing back.”

As she returned to playing, the Ismaili Community was initiating a celebration of the arts entitled Jubilee Arts in 2018. She successfully auditioned and was selected to play a local exhibition at the Aga Khan Museum – her first public performance in 30 years.

That got her selected to play in the Jubilee Arts National Exhibition at the Four Seasons Centre later that year. While the pandemic paused performances, she would also be chosen to play as part of the ceremonies for the renaming of part of Wynford Drive to Aga Khan Boulevard in 2022.

While she pursued health science, Catherine credits her experiences in music for helping her find success as a healthcare professional and educator.

“As a young piano teacher who initially got frustrated when my students couldn’t understand things I found simple, I had to learn to put myself in their shoes,” she says. “That realization has carried me through my career when explaining to patients, clinical students and faculty at Michener.”

“Though I chose science, music still played an important role in the end.”