When a young Dr. Lawrence Schiff realized rock stardom was not quite in the stars, he turned to his fallback: studying medicine.

“I took up drums when I was 13 and I was a very poor, unrefined student,” he said. “I quit about 10 minutes before my drum instructor was going to fire me as a student because I wasn’t listening to him, and essentially was self taught after that … Academics was probably a better route than becoming a rock star drummer.”

Even after years of study and rising in his profession, Dr. Schiff, now the chief of emergency medicine at Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital, refused to let his musical muscles atrophy. He and SBELIH’s Dr. Ryan Zapata, a guitarist, have enjoyed jamming with one another ever since they met more than two decades ago as residents studying at Northwell Health’s Long Island Jewish Medical Center. Their band POC, which stands for Products of Conception and also includes SBELIH nurse anesthetist and vocalist John Fuzio and Andy Jepson on bass will perform rock hits from various decades at Greenport Harbor Brewing Co.‘s Peconic location Friday, April 12 at 4 p.m. The event, dubbed Rock and Brew, will raise funds for the hospital where three of the bandmates work.

Audience members can expect to hear classics from Led Zeppelin to Van Halen to Rush and Nirvana. Dr. Schiff listed “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Ace Frehley’s rendition of “New York Groove” and Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” as his favorite hits to play live.

The Rock and Brew performance is far from POC’s first fundraising performance. The group has volunteered their time and talent for various hospital fundraisers since the “Docs Who Rock” 2017 benefit for Stony Brook University Cancer Center’s bone marrow transplant unit.

“We seem to have a little cult following, mainly hospital people,” Dr. Schiff said. “This makes us feel proud and emboldened to get the band together.”

In the past, Dr. Schiff noted the funds he and his bandmates raised have allowed SBELIH to purchase much needed equipment. While he said he is not sure how the hospital will use the money Friday’s rock concert raises, he said it really does not matter. The doctor, who said he never envisioned fusing his and Dr. Zapata’s passion with their medical professions, is just happy to beat his drums for a good cause.

“I like to say I play for my pleasure and other people’s sufferings; that’s how I was brought up playing drums since I was a kid,” the doctor quipped. “But nowadays, almost every time we play out, it is for a community, hospital, charity event … We just show up with our stuff, we play and hopefully have a good time.”

Tickets for the Rock and Brew event to benefit Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital are available for $30 through elihfoundation.org.