A man who once worked as a security guard at a hospital has returned to the same facility as a medical student after years of studying, military service and academic training.
Russell Ledet spent about five years working at Baton Rouge General Medical Center in Louisiana while preparing for a career in medicine.
During his shifts, he carried study cards and used every available break to revise subjects such as chemistry and physics, which were required for medical school.
Speaking to ABC News, Ledet said he also took every opportunity to learn from the doctors around him.
He would often ask physicians if he could shadow them and observe their work.
While many said they were too busy, then chief surgery resident Patrick Greiffenstein agreed to mentor him, giving him a chance to experience clinical medicine firsthand.
After leaving the hospital, Ledet served in the United States Navy, completed a PhD in molecular oncology at New York University and enrolled in both MD and MBA programmes at Tulane University.
In 2020, he returned to Baton Rouge General Medical Center, not as the security officer who once monitored the hospital’s entrances, but as a medical student completing his clinical training.
His journey has since been widely shared online as an example of persistence and long-term commitment to a career goal.