This mother-daughter duo fulfilled their goal of graduating med school together

Dr. Jasmine Kudji was able to finish medical school alongside the woman who inspired her to be there: her mother, Dr. Cynthia Kudji Sylvester.

The mother-and-daughter duo graduated in March from the University of Medicine & Health Sciences in St. Kitts. On July 1, they will launch their careers with the LSU Health System in Louisiana — Kudji Sylvester will start as a family medicine resident at LSU Health Lafayette and Kudji will be a general surgery resident at LSU Health New Orleans.

Kudji Sylvester decided at a young age that she wanted to become a physician, but when she became pregnant with Jasmine at 22, she switched gears and became a nursing assistant. She ultimately went back to school to become a registered nurse and then a nurse practitioner, and she told Today that when Jasmine started college, she thought, "This is the perfect time for me to pursue my dream of being a physician."

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As a child, Kudji would spend a lot of time with her mom at work, and she says it "was just natural" for her to go into the medical field. They supported each other during medical school, with both understanding exactly what the other was going through. "You're just able to rely on each other throughout the entire process," Kudji said.

They also hope to inspire more black women to become doctors, and started a blog called The MD Life to share their experiences and information they wish they knew before going to med school. "It's not often that I see people that look like me in my field so that's why it's so important to us to make sure that we do show our faces and spread our story," Kudji told Today. Catherine Garcia