Former security guard at hospital now a frontline medical student at the same hospital

A former security guard at Baton Rouge General Medical Center, Louisiana has become a medical student in the same hospital.

Dr. Russell Ledet worked as a security guard at the hospital for five years before going to pursue his medical dreams. He is currently at the frontline of the COVID-19 crisis saving lives.

While he worked as a security guard with a dream to become a medical doctor, Dr. Ledet studied not cards and also asked some of the doctors if he could shadow them. Although many of them were too busy to assist him, the chief surgery resident, Dr. Patrick Greiffstein offered to take him up as a mentee, and the rest they say is history.

Dr. Ledet is also a US Navy Veteran and has a Ph.D. in molecular oncology from New York University. He is currently enrolled in the MBA program and medical school at Tulane in Louisiana.

“This is one of those reflective points when you’re trying to understand how far you’ve come and how far you got to go,” said Ledet on ‘Good Morning America’.

He said he chose to return to the same hospital that kickstarted his medical career to help patients, especially patients of color, and to hopefully mentor for ambitious students who hope to pursue a medical career.

Dr. Ledet’s career progress is a tale of one with “humble beginnings” who didn’t let his circumstances get in the way of achieving his dreams, ambitions, and goals. The medical student also has a passion to see all black people liberated from systemic racism. In December, Dr. Ledet gathered a few of his Medical classmates to take a photo on a former plantation where Blacks were enslaved. The purpose of the photograph was to show their “ancestral resiliency”.

“I think we did something right and 50 years from now, people will still talk about this image,” Ledet said to PEOPLE. “No matter how you feel about it, it’s a visceral reaction to ‘Here is what our country essentially started with and here’s how far we’ve come.’”

While blacks are still underserved and underrepresented in American society, Ledet says there is still hope for the Black community. He added that the purpose of the image is to let “people understand we’re trying. No matter what the system was initially set up for, we’re trying to go against that grain.” Adding that, “there are still systemic issues that prevent [the] full flourishing of all people in America.”

To strengthen his support for the black community and Black Lives Matter movement, Dr. Ledet co-founded The 15 White Coats which is aimed at building cultural imagery and visibility in K-12 classrooms across the nation. It also aims to assist people of color who seek to apply to medical school and create “culturally adept” content for generations to come.