From concert violin to cataract surgery: Dr Jessica Yap's path back to Jamaica

Long before she picked up a scalpel, Dr Jessica Yap was known for picking up a bow. As a child and teenager she earned a reputation as one of Jamaica's standout violinists, sharing stages with seasoned performers and impressing audiences with her playing. Today, that same young musician has traded the concert circuit for the operating theatre, working as a consulting ophthalmologist.

Speaking with Sunday Lifestyle at The Liguanea Club in New Kingston, Yap explained that the demands of touring never sat well with her, even as her violin career took off early. "Even though I started out playing violin professionally at quite a young age, for some reason, the tour life didn't seem to be my calling card. It was never attractive to me. So I decided, in the latter part of high school, that I wanted to do medicine," she said.

She travelled to London to complete her Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music (LRAM) in violin before enrolling in medical school at The University of the West Indies, Mona. Although she had been awarded a full scholarship, Yap chose to redirect that good fortune outwards by establishing the Jessica Yap Pass It On Scholarship Foundation.

"We were able to help a few students with their tuition and books. One student, we took him through all of his years of medical school, and I ended up doing some concerts to raise money for the fund and help other people," she recalled.

It was during her clinical rotations that medicine truly clicked for her, and the urge to specialise soon followed. The decision on where to specialise, however, took a little longer. "That's when I realised I really liked medicine. I knew I wanted to specialise, too, but I was uncertain about which area at first. It wasn't until my second year of internship, as a senior house officer, that I was able to get some more exposure to ophthalmology and decided that this was it. It's so cool," she said.

Yap's career in eye care began with a four-month junior posting in ophthalmology at Kingston Public Hospital. From there she moved to the United Kingdom and pursued her fellowship with The Royal College of Ophthalmologists, completing it in 2023. She then paid her own way to India for an intensive surgical stint, performing 56 operations in two weeks.

"You literally pay to do each individual surgery. It was a very eye-opening experience. And it was also great! I was trained by some wonderfully talented people, and more importantly, I discovered that I was able to coordinate with my hands and feet," she said.

Despite years on the violin and time spent on the tennis court, she had not been certain her hand-and-foot coordination would translate to the operating microscope, where surgeons must work the foot pedals with both legs while manipulating instruments in both hands and viewing through the lens.

"It's not a skill that everybody has naturally. And with limited experience, I had no desire to be one of those people who are talentless and take 10 years to learn the procedure. I have to just jump in and develop some kind of skill initially or else it's not going to work out for me," she admitted.

After India, Yap took up a post in Middlesbrough, the industrial town in North Yorkshire, England. The cold and the distance from home were softened by her experience working within the National Health Service (NHS).

"A lot of the patients really rave about the system. Obviously, there are some who complain, but many say the NHS always comes through for them. So it was nice to see how the public system worked, and the patients were happy," she said.

A move to Eastbourne, on the south coast of England, followed. "Since being there, I've done hundreds of surgeries, mostly cataract," she noted.

Now, the ophthalmologist intends to bring that overseas experience back to the land of wood and water. "The plan is to return home full-time in mid-June of this year. I have a few more weeks of work left," she said, adding that a brief trip around Europe is on the cards before she heads back.

Her ambitions on home soil include setting up her own private practice while remaining open to assisting in the public health system whenever called upon. She pointed to a noticeable shortfall left behind after the wind-down of Cuban support. "The Cuban eye programme played a big part in helping with our ophthalmology load. But with those doctors gone, that leaves a gap in the sector," she explained.

The homecoming may also reopen the door to her first love. "The other day, I was dreaming about playing the violin again, so you never know," she said. A revival of the Jessica Yap Pass It On Scholarship Foundation is also on her radar.

There is a personal motivation pulling her back too. Yap married Dr Parris Lyew-Ayee Jr in January 2024 and relocated to England in May of that same year, meaning the couple have spent more of their marriage apart than together. "We have lived apart as a married couple longer than we've lived together. It has been rough. So coming back to Jamaica won't only be a transition for my career. It will be a transition for life as well," she said.

Her parting advice for anyone chasing a dream is to map out the route first. "[Stay] determined, always work smart, not hard and never give up," Yap said.