BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Detroit Medical Orchestra's Board of Directors is responsible for maintaining background operations, ensuring that the group runs smoothly. Individuals volunteer their time to serve on the board, and are appointed to their respective positions through a unanimous vote. Any DMO member is invited, and encouraged, to serve on the board each year. The Board of Directors communicates weekly with all musicians, oversees all DMO financial activities, and ensure that resources are focused on the DMO mission - to bring healing through music.

Scroll below to learn more about each of our board members individually.

Syd LaDuke

Board Chair

Syd is a Global Technology Strategy Manager at Ford Motor Company. A proud Detroiter, she is heavily involved in her east side neighborhood, where she lives with her husband John, their daughter Camille, stubborn bulldog Trixie, and needy cat Freyja. Syd studied flute under Dr. John Bailey at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she earned dual degrees in Music Performance and Mechanical Engineering. She has been a member of the Detroit Medical Orchestra since 2013 and has served on the board in several capacities, including concert hospitality chair, treasurer, and music librarian. She currently serves as Board Chair.

Greta Mulbauer

Secretary

Greta is a PhD student in biomedical engineering at Wayne State University. Growing up, Greta studied both piano and viola, but found herself having time for neither in college. She learned about the Detroit Medical Orchestra during Wayne State's annual Festifall, and realized the DMO was the perfect opportunity for her to get back into music. She's been a violist with the orchestra since 2022, and began serving on the board as Webmaster. She's taken on the role of Grants Coordinator, and Secretary during the 2024-25 season, and looks forward to securing additional funding for the orchestra in upcoming seasons.

Dan Frohardt, PhD

Treasurer

Dan has been playing the bass since 1960, when the next door neighbor told Dan's mother that the school orchestra needed another bass player. For the next 15 years he played in school orchestras of the Royal Oak Schools, Grinnell College, and the University of California, Berkeley, with occasional forays into nightclub music.

In 1995, after a hiatus of twenty years spent raising children and pursuing a career as a mathematician at Wayne State University, he joined the newly-constituted Royal Oak Orchestra whose conductor Peter Tolias he had gotten to know through his children's musical activities. He joined the Detroit Medical Orchestra in 2011 after hearing about it through a colleague who was a patient of the orchestra's co-founder, Dr. Michael Cher.

Dan retired from Wayne State at the end of 2019. He finds playing in the DMO and preparing for its concerts a very satisfying way to spend Sunday evenings.

Dan has been serving on the board of directors as Treasurer since 2022.

Danish Ali, MS

Information & Technology Director

Danish Ali is a Business Intelligence Analyst at Aledade, a healthcare technology company focused on advancing value-based care. An active member of the Metro Detroit music community, Danish has served as Principal Violist of the Detroit Medical Orchestra since joining in 2016. He previously served as President of the DMO Board of Directors from 2020 to 2023 and remains actively involved in the orchestra's leadership, helping strengthen its operations and support its continued growth.

Beyond the DMO, Danish has performed with several ensembles throughout Southeast Michigan, including the Oakland Symphony, Macomb Symphony, and Warren Symphony Orchestra. He is also an avid chamber musician with a passion for exploring a wide range of classical repertoire.

Outside of his professional and musical pursuits, Danish enjoys spending time with his family, dabbling in music composition, and exploring his growing interests in app and database development, as well as video editing.

Michael Cher, MD

Director of Grants and Institutional Funding

I was fortunate to grow up in a very musical family in terms of both playing and appreciating classical music. I'm very proud of my own two boys, both of whom are accomplished violinists and have played several concerts with the DMO. My brothers and their kids are musicians, so our idea of a family reunion always seems to involve a lot chamber music. I've had the opportunity to play in many orchestras over the years, including medical orchestras in other cities. I love getting to know good music, and I enjoy playing in the Detroit Medical Orchestra and Spectrum Orchestra here in Detroit area. I've also had the chance to play chamber music with many very talented friends and colleagues.

My "day job" is urology oncology. I am Professor and Chair of the Department of Urology at Wayne State University and Chief of Urology at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute. I have the privilege of caring for patients, performing cancer surgery, teaching medical students and residents, and participating in research projects and clinical trials.

Kenn Jones

Musicians Committee Director

I began playing the trumpet in fourth grade as part of the Royal Oak Schools Instrumental Music program. In seventh grade I switched to the Horn. I then played through high school and college at Michigan State University where I studied with Dr. Douglas Campbell. I was in Symphony Band, Marching Band, opera orchestras, brass choir, a woodwind quintet and eventually the MSU Symphony.

After graduation, I did not own a horn so I did not play for twenty years until my then ten-year-old son began the horn in the Berkley Schools Instrumental music program. Now I had a horn to play, and I eventually purchased my own horn and began playing regularly in community bands and orchestras.

After retiring from my "day job" as an outside technician for AT&T, I now spend a good deal of my time with several groups of which the DMO is my favorite. Even though I am not involved in the medical arena, I support the DMO's mission wholeheartedly.

Jack Fogliasso

Jack Fogliasso is a PhD candidate in mathematics at Wayne State University. He has been a member of the DMO since late 2023 when he met Dan Frohardt and asked him what he likes to do now that he’s retired. Before coming to Detroit to pursue his PhD, Jack received a B.S. in Mathematics from California State University Chico and an M.A. in Mathematics from California State University Sacramento.

As an undergraduate, Jack performed with the Shasta Symphony Orchestra, among other orchestras and ensembles at Shasta College in his hometown of Redding, California. He grew up in a family of musicians (mostly rock guitarists) and has been playing percussion since he was 10 years old and got his start jamming with the Shasta Blues Society with his dad.

Jack became section leader and joined the Board of Directors in the summer of 2026. He is inspired by his former section leader/Percussion & Equipment Chair Aaron Brown, who always led with kindness, mentoring percussionists from a variety of musical backgrounds and making everyone feel welcome.

Percussion and Equipment Director

Sarah Niewoit

Publications Director

I’m proud to serve as a board member of the Detroit Medical Orchestra, combining my love of music with my passion for being part of a vibrant community. I’ve played violin for many years and enjoy the opportunity to make music alongside talented musicians who share that same passion. Outside of the orchestra, I enjoy playing video games, board games, getting lost in a good book, and spending time with family and friends. I’m excited to contribute to the orchestra both on and off the stage and help support its mission of bringing healing through music.

Beverly Fu

Student Leadership Director

Beverly is an MD/PhD student at Wayne State University School of Medicine, where she studies the innate immune system of the female reproductive tract. She took a brief hiatus from playing the violin as an undergraduate student, during which she focused on piano and explored music history and underrepresented composers while minoring in music at the University of Michigan. Having missed playing in an ensemble, she joined the DMO as a pianist and violinist in 2023 and has served on the Board of Directors as Student Leadership Director since 2024.

Jeffery Klein, MD

Director of Venues

Coming Soon!

Darion Twitty, MD

Social Media Director

My name is Darion Twitty. I was born and raised in Detroit. I play violin with the DMO. In addition to being the Social Media chair, I’m also a family physician at Henry Ford Hospital. I have been playing the violin since I was 10 years old. My main inspiration for wanting to learn to play the violin is my mother. She used to play when she was a little girl and I used to love hearing about her memories of playing in an orchestra, especially her favorite piece, Chariots of Fire. I have been mainly self-taught since private lessons were not something that my family could afford. Despite studying hard in school to become a doctor and being the only musician in the family, I have strived to maintain my involvement by playing in various ensembles. I have played with the UofM campus orchestra, the Detroit Community Orchestra, and now the Detroit Medical Orchestra. I've been playing with the DMO since I was a first-year medical student. I love that our organization is comprised of people across all fields of medicine, even those non-medicine-related. I've gotten to know the orchestra quite well throughout the years and was thrilled to be a part of our holiday performance project, "Songs of Comfort and Healing- A Holiday Chamber Music Collection" in 2020 at the height of the pandemic. It highlighted the strength and dedication of the orchestra to continue spreading joy even during the most challenging times. I look forward to continuing to find ways to heal through music.

Edward "Ted" Lasker

Audio/Visual

My dad taught Anatomy at the WSU Medical School for 36 years. He wasn’t a musician, but he was a great listener and would have been delighted with the idea and the reality of the DMO had he lived to see it. My mom was a professor of Anatomy at WSU where she taught for 50 years. She enjoyed attending DMO concerts. I like to think of my participation in the DMO as partly in their honor. Along with the fun of playing great music with a talented and enthusiastic orchestra, I’ve made new friends through the DMO. Playing from time to time in hospitals, as an orchestra and in smaller groups, has been especially gratifying. I currently serve as an advisor to the Board.

Malik Wali

Librarian

Malik is a Fluid Simulation Engineer in the automotive industry. He grew up in East Lansing, Michigan, and has been playing the flute for over two decades, starting at age 10. During his undergraduate studies, he played piccolo in the Michigan Marching Band. Malik joined the DMO after attending a Chamber Music Collage Concert upon a friend's recommendation, and he hasn't looked back since. He enjoys making music with others and has served on the DMO Board of Directors since 2023.

Nina Flanigan, MA

Director of Outreach

Nina is a retired educator with an extensive background in music education and school leadership. Throughout her career, she spent 20 years teaching music in public schools, working with students from kindergarten through eighth grade as well as high school choral ensembles. She also served as an elementary school principal for 10 years and spent 14 years as an adjunct faculty member and supervisor of student music teachers at Oakland University.
A member of the Detroit Medical Orchestra since its inaugural year, Nina has played an active role in both its musical and organizational development. She previously served as President and Chair of the DMO Board of Directors for three years, as well as the orchestra's librarian. For the past four years, she has served as Outreach Chair, helping foster connections between the orchestra and the broader community.
An accomplished bassoonist, Nina serves as Principal Bassoonist of both the Detroit Medical Orchestra and Spectrum Orchestra. She is also an active chamber musician, performing with several ensembles throughout the area, including the DMO's nonet and dectet groups.

Garrett Harris

Hospitality Director

Garrett brings 20+ years of tuba performance experience to the DMO. Starting at the age of 12, he began orchestra performance with the Siena Heights University Youth Symphony. He later attended Western Michigan University, graduating with a Bachelor's of Business while also performing as section leader of the Bronco Marching Band. Over the last decade, he has continued to hone his craft currently serving as principal tuba in the DMO, Troy Metro Symphony Orchestra, and Spectrum Orchestra.

Kathy Zhang

Chamber Collage Concert Director