The excellence for one family is twofold.
Originally from Chattanooga, 28-year-old identical twins Jeremy and Jermaine Hogstrom have been on nearly identical paths to becoming doctors.
Having always shared interests and academic focus, the twins currently are doing their residencies in internal medicine through the Detroit/Wayne County Health organization, working with patients at Sinai Grace Hospital in Detroit, Michigan.
The brothers spent their early years in Chattanooga, attending Big Ridge Elementary School and Berean Academy, but moved to Kansas City when their father–former WTCI-TV President and CEO Victor Hogstrom–took a job there.
Jeremy and Jermaine spent some of their middle school years and all of high school in Kansas City. When they finished high school, they returned to the Scenic City to enroll at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
The brothers said they have always considered Chattanooga home.
“Having grown up in Chattanooga, we realize how unique the city really is,” the Hogstroms said in an email statement. “We enjoy the scenery, the tourism, the great weather and downtown. Overall, it’s a very friendly city on the river with a lot to do. We always brag about Chattanooga and tell our friends to visit, because it is a very unique and diverse city with a feeling like no other. After leaving Chattanooga for medical school and residency, we really appreciate what Chattanooga has to offer even more.”
At UTC, the brothers took the same classes, same tests and when all of the grades were averaged out, guess what happened.
“Somehow at the end of the semester, we would have like the same GPA–down to the decimal point,” they said.
The Hogstrom brothers graduated magna cum laude from UTC in May 2014, both with degrees in biology and minors in chemistry.
The pair went on to study osteopathic medicine at the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine at Auburn University, graduating in May 2019. There the “identical” trend continued, with each twin spending nearly the same 45 hours a week studying after classes.
In the osteopathic medicine practiced by the brothers, physicians see the body as a single, integrated system rather than individual parts.
The Hogstroms’ three-year residencies started in July 2019.
The twins were inspired to get into the medical field by their mother, a home health care therapist who they said helped strengthen her patients’ bodies and offered them encouragement as they rehabilitated from surgery.
Jeremy and Jermaine said they want to be an example to minorities and other students who may think med school is an impossible dream.
“In medicine, there is a huge shortage of African American male physicians,” they explained. “We hope that by putting ourselves out there to be seen, we can enable other young African American men to see themselves in a similar role. By doing this, we hope it will inspire them to pursue a career not just in medicine, but in a field they initially may have felt was out of their reach.”
But it’s not been all work and no play for the twins. Both brothers have black belts in taekwondo, and are accomplished pianists and champion tennis players as well.
They have also taken the Internet by storm by promoting Black excellence and achievement.
“For fun, we play tennis, piano, karaoke and now TikTok (@twin.doctors.j),” they noted. “Yes TikTok! In the middle of the pandemic in 2020, we started a TikTok account with the hopes to help educate people about COVID, as well as entertain and help to represent African American males in a positive light.
Since then, we have unexpectedly gained a massive following. Now we do everything from medical topics to medical humor, and answer Q&A questions about our experiences as young twin docs.”
Once the brothers complete their residencies, their future plans are still pretty much identical.
“After residency, we plan to work in primary care as we believe it is the foundation of maintaining great health,” they said.
Some final words of wisdom from the twin physicians: “Our advice to others is that you can become just about anything you set your mind to, but it requires determination and sacrifice. Always be yourself and never allow the perceptions of others to change who you want to be or what you want to achieve.”