In Their Parents Footsteps: Siblings Enter Saint Louis University School of Medicine Together
07/31/2024
ST. LOUIS – Attendees were seeing double at this year’s Saint Louis University School of Medicine White Coat Ceremony.
Aarti and Arjun Sahai, siblings in a triplet set, have shared essential milestones over the years. On Sunday, July 28, they added one more to their repertoire. They were part of the incoming Class of first-year medical students at SLU.
From left, Arjun and Aarti Sahai, siblings in a triplet set, are incoming first-year medical students at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. Photo by Kyle Kabance.
Unlike their brother, Akshut, who’s studying to become a dentist at Arizona State University, Aarti and Arjun chose to enter the medical profession like their parents, Animesh, M.D., and Madhu, M.D., who cloaked their children in their first white coats at the ceremony.
Aarti and Arjun are among 26% of incoming medical students who are SLU alums, earning undergraduate degrees in public health and neuroscience, respectively. They were also among 15% of the class who came from SLU’s Medical Scholars Program.
Training to Address Health Disparities
Natives of Kentucky, Aarti and Arjun lived in Washington state before moving with their parents to Sikeston, Missouri, at the start of their sophomore year in high school. Growing up in a rural community in the Bootheel, Aarti and Arjun noticed it was a hotspot for underserved populations.
Rural Missourians often face more disparities in health outcomes than their urban and suburban counterparts, in part from challenges accessing health care. Aarti said it’s jarring to witness “critical components” of urban and rural communities going without the care they need. Still, Aarti said she’s being trained to address health disparities.
Aarti credits the program with an early introduction to the biopsychosocial approach to medicine that systematically considers biological, psychological, and social factors and their complex interactions in understanding health, illness, and health care delivery.
The siblings say they gravitated to SLU because of its reputation as a top-ranked research university where faculty and students conduct ground-breaking work to address the world's toughest challenges. Aarti and Arjun are already impacting their community in positive ways.
Through an ongoing research internship with the City of St. Louis Department of Health, Aarti is playing a pivotal role in the fight to end the HIV epidemic. She created HIVE: The Art of Coming Together, a multi-pronged, community-based intervention program that tackles HIV health education at the individual, institutional, and community levels to increase the uptake of HIV prevention resources in underserved, marginalized groups ages 13-24 in the city of St. Louis.
As an ASPIRE Research Fellow through Washington University School of Medicine, Arjun assisted in a clinical trial that investigated the safety and efficacy of a diabetic medication in a sample of epileptic adults. He was also paired with a pediatric neurologist to assist with research on the health outcomes of parents of children with epilepsy who were found to have higher rates of stress, anxiety, and depression and exceeded the threshold for behavioral health referrals. He and his mentor presented their findings at last year’s Child Neurological Society annual meeting.
Looking ahead to their plans after medical school and residency, the duo said they’re keeping their options open. But one thing for sure is they will remain committed to service, Aarti said.
Arjun agreed, “I was drawn to SLU’s commitment to community-driven initiatives, which is a big part of SLU’s mission. I want to learn how I can play a role in this.”
White Coat Ceremony 2024
Latest Newslink
- SLU History Professor Receives Fulbright Specialist Award to Create Digital Tool Focusing on Gaelic IrelandThomas Finan, Ph.D., associate professor of history at Saint Louis University, has received a Fulbright Specialist Award. He will work with colleagues at the University of Galway to create a joint database of archaeological and historical research focusing on Gaelic Ireland.
- Don't Let that Cookie Crumble: SSE Teams Build, Test Gingerbread HousesTeams of students, faculty and staff in Saint Louis University's School of Science and Engineering recently put their engineering skills to work for a December Innovation Challenge. The teams built gingerbread houses designed to stand up during a weight-loading competition.
- Dr. Edward J. Feser Named 34th President of Saint Louis UniversityFeser, a Roman Catholic, Jesuit-educated leader in higher education, will assume the SLU presidency on July 1, 2025. Feser currently serves as the provost and executive vice president of Oregon State University (OSU), a land-grant institution with more than 38,000 students, a $1.8 billion budget and $480 million annually in externally funded research.
- SLU's Newest Alums Cheered at Commencement CeremonySaturday morning, hundreds of students walked across the stage at Chaifetz Arena and joined the Billiken alumni family. Saint Louis University celebrated its Midyear Commencement on Saturday, Dec. 14, In front of a packed crowd of family members, friends, and loved ones. Those in attendance and watching at home saw the newest graduates of SLU celebrated.
- Amy E. Wright Receives Honorable Mention for MLA's Katherine Singer Kovacs PrizeSaint Louis University's Amy E. Wright, Ph.D., received an honorable mention from the Modern Language Association of America (MLA) for the Katherine Singer Kovacs Prize for an outstanding book published in English or Spanish in the field of Latin American and Spanish literature and cultures. Wright, a professor of Hispanic Studies at SLU, received the honor for her book Serial Mexico: Storytelling across Media, from Nationhood to Now, published in 2023 by Vanderbilt University Press.
- SLU Professor and Author Jonathan Sawday Wins MLA's Prestigious James Russell Lowell PrizeSaint Louis University's Jonathan Sawday, Ph.D., has received the James Russell Lowell Prize for the most outstanding book published in 2023.
