by Erin Wiltgen

chh@heraldsun.com; 918-1035

CHAPEL HILL -- It began as a medical convention like any other. A group of six surgeons from across the country, each with some sort of musical background, were thrown together to play cover songs for the more than 1,000 medical personnel present at the 2008 Society of Gynecologic Oncologists Conference, to offer some levity and entertainment to the evening.

"When we had that first inaugural debut, so to speak, and we didn't suck, the seed of the idea that we would perform at medical meetings started," said John Soper, a surgeon at the N.C. Women's Hospital and guitarist for the group.

That seed soon blossomed into a full-fledged band called N.E.D., complete with a CD to be released on Tuesday. The album, called No Evidence of Disease, will promote awareness of women's cancer, support the Gynecologic Cancer Foundation through its proceeds and help launch the National Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month.

Not a development anticipated by the doctors selected randomly to play "Brown-Eyed Girl" at a medical mixer.

"I never really thought I would be motivated by fundraising and cancer awareness because I work so hard every day taking care of women," said John Boggess, Soper's colleague at the N.C. Women's Hospital. "I thought that would be enough. But now we have the opportunity to really have a greater impact on a lot more people than we do at the office day-to-day."

That impact has proved an important motivator and goal of N.E.D. members. While breast cancer garners a good bit of attention -- and rightly so, Boggess said -- GYN cancers remain something of an afterthought. GYN cancers are cancers of the reproductive tracts, many life-threatening, and they affect about 80,000 women each year.

"I think those are important messages to get out," Soper said. "If we can imbed that message in a story about the music, then for me we've accomplished part of our goal."

Many musicians in the group have been practicing music for years. Some of them, such as Boggess -- the group's singer -- took a break to become a physician. Others, such as Soper -- the group's guitarist and mandolin player -- continue to tamper casually with their musical talents. Whatever their previous level of participation, all six surgeons have dedicated time and energy to their musical development for N.E.D.

"For me, it's really having the ability to communicate something that's really worthwhile and supportive, a topic that I've dedicated my whole life to," Boggess said. "We're taking our motivation and talent and passion for what we do and putting it in a direction that's very positive and very different from what we do every day, that our cancer patients seem to really respond to and enjoy."

While the group's main intent is to raise awareness about GYN cancers, Boggess said N.E.D. wanted to avoid too strong an association with doctors. The band name holds the essence of the group's approach to its music: the opportunity to send a message but also a focus on the quality of the music itself.

"Our goal was to find a name that if you knew nothing about the project you would not really associate it with medicine," Boggess said. "We wanted the music to stand up on its own."

N.E.D. is the abbreviated form of no evidence for disease, a diagnosis given to patients in remission or without traces of cancer. In a lapse of creativity, they stuck with the same thought for the album.

"We ran out of ideas when it came to naming the CD, so we thought we'd at least reinforce who we were," Soper said, laughing.

In addition to the donation of CD sale proceeds to the N.E.D. Fund of the Gynecologic Cancer Foundation, the album itself will also help kick off GCAM, enclosing a pamphlet of information on GYN cancers. The band will play a key role in the launch of the new Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Movement, which will have its debut Nov. 6-8 in Washington, D.C., holding a live performance on a stage just 200 miles from the White House.

"I think its just one more way that we can reach women with our important messages," said Marsha Wilson, director of communications for the Gynecological Cancer Foundation. "I think that these six individuals, as care-givers and people, who've gone outside their normal, incredibly busy lives to add this dimension -- everyone's very intrigued and very supportive."