SANTA MONICA, California (12 Mar 2003) -- A memorial service was held for Santa Monica resident Janice D'Amico, 47, a rock and roll guitarist turned physician, who died on February 10 in a scuba diving accident in the Maldives Islands in the Indian Ocean. In the 1970s, D'Amico toured the country with one of the first all-women's rock and roll groups, Sweet Jenny Grit. A student of Ralph Towner, she also played classical and jazz guitar in the style of guitarist Pat Metheny, one of her primary influences. After a successful career as a professional musician and music teacher, D'Amico went back to school and began a second career in medicine. After receiving her medical degree in 1987, she practiced anesthesiology in hospitals in New Mexico, Bakersfield, CA, and the Los Angeles area, and attained subspecialty experience in obstetrics, cardiac surgery, pediatrics, and neurology. She was a member of a number of professional societies, including the American Society of Anesthesiologists and the Medicine in the Arts Association. | | An ardent scuba diver, she traveled in recent years to Papua New Guinea, Bali, Egypt's Red Sea, Sippidan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Micronesia, La Paz, Palau, as well as the Maldives to dive. In the Maldives, she was studying French with scuba master Josi Dalcourt. "Before her last dive, we had a great talk for a couple of hours, and she was super happy. She said to me in French, 'I love life.'" Born in Syracuse, New York, D'Amico took a B.A. at San Francisco State University in Music Performance, and studied medicine at UCLA. After interning at Children's Hospital in San Francisco, she was a resident at UCLA-L.A. Center for the Health Sciences at the University of New Mexico and was certified as a Diplomat of the American Board of Anesthesiology and the National Board of Medical Examiners. She is survived by her father, James F. D'Amico, step-mother Carmaline D'Amico, and two sisters. SOURCE - Santa Monica Mirror |
