Sibling success: Sisters tackle medical school together

COURTESY JESSICA JANT

Jessica Jant (left), 25 and sister Jada, 23, are enrolling at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., next month. The sisters graduated Providence Day School.

Jada and Jessica Jant didn’t expect to wind up at medical school together.

The Providence Day School graduates have been accepted to Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, one of four historically Black medical schools in the country. They were notified of their acceptance on Oct. 17, 30 minutes apart.  

“When I went there and I interviewed, the campus was so welcoming,” said Jada, 23, who was called first. “It was so warm and fuzzy, and it just felt like I could see myself there and I felt this sense of belonging that I hadn’t quite felt that I wasn’t honestly expecting to feel going up there.”

Jessica, 25, graduated East Carolina University in Greenville; Jada earned her degree at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Both majored in biology. They returned to Charlotte and took jobs as medical assistants while weighing medical school options. Jessica works at Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates. Jada is at Fora Dermatology in Mooresville. The experience has been vital to their aspirations of becoming physician assistants.

“I worked at a nursing home in Washington and getting those clinical experiences are very different from now,” Jessica said. “Now, I’m working alongside PAs and MDs and learning different clinical skills that I think will be helpful to me while in PA school and beyond.”  The sisters have relatives with backgrounds in medicine – their mother works in the dental field, and an aunt is a gynecologist. Their example may have inspired the sisters’ interest in science, but neither knew where it would lead to after college.

The sisters grew closer despite the distance of going to separate schools as undergraduates. There wasn’t a day that one didn’t call, text, and/or FaceTime the other to catching up or study. Jada, a teaching assistant in organic chemistry at NCSU, made sure her sister had a clear understanding on that subject, but struggled with anatomy, which Jessica aced. The sisters didn’t expect to end up at medical school together. Meharry was the only school they both applied to, but it wasn’t a question of what they were doing once they got in.

Jessica, who graduated ECU in 2021, applied to Meharry last year and was added to the waitlist. Disappointed, she was skeptical about reapplying, but her peers encouraged her to do so. One of the things that excites her most is the opportunity to experience Black college culture.

“Growing up being at Providence Day School and being at a (predominantly white college) you don’t really have anyone that looks like you,” she said. “I know going into the healthcare field I want to be able to provide that to other people because I know anytime that I go to the doctor and I have a Black physician or Black PA I’m like, ‘Oh my God, they can relate to me more,’ so I just want to be able to give that to people later on down the line.”

The Jants hope to increase in the diversity of medical professionals. Five percent of U.S. doctors identify as Black, and research shows that cultural competency is a major factor in how medical providers relate to patients. This, along with the lack of access to health care or reluctance to visit doctors on a regular basis, is what Jada personally believes is the reason many people of color don’t prioritize health care.

“I’m really passionate because I have this belief that everyone is entitled to health care and good health care at that,” she said. “Being a Black woman, a woman in general, that’s a huge forgotten demographic and I want to be able to provide care to those people who may have been forgotten and make sure they feel like, ‘OK, you’re not forgotten. We care about you. We want you to have good care.’ That’s where it all stems from.”

Jada is excited to take the journey that awaits in Tennessee with her sister. She doesn’t shy away from reminding Jessica when she needs her “me time” but that doesn’t often last long. Within a couple of hours, the sisters will be on the couch in their apartment binge watching whatever is on TV – if they’re not studying anatomy.

“Sisters and siblings, they argue,” Jada said. “They argue hard, but they love harder and that definitely is how we’ve been. We really are best friends.”  

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