Prior to being a security guard, Ledet from Lake Charles, Louisiana had no intentions on becoming a doctor. After a rough childhood, Ledet graduated from high school and joined the United States Navy and completed five years of active duty. While on naval reserve, Ledet attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to study social work. While in college, Ledet got a job as a security guard at Baton Rouge General Medical Center to support his wife and two daughters. This is where Ledet’s journey to becoming a doctor begins.

While working at Baton Rouge General Medical Center, Ledet became very interested in becoming a doctor so he asked several doctors if he could shadow them while they are working. The doctors turned down his request saying “Security guards don’t become doctors”. Ledet’s consistency and relentless efforts finally paid off when he asked Dr. Patrick Greiffenstein, a chief resident on the surgical service at the time. After Ledet explained to Dr. Greiffenstein how he had aspirations of going to medical school, Dr. Greiffenstein willingly accepted his request to shadow him performing surgeries and caring for patients. While other potential medical students shadowed a doctor only once or twice a week, Ledet consistently took advantage of every opportunity he had to shadow the doctors. He would stay late to shadow them and afterwards do security or work security then shadow the doctors in the morning.

Ledet switched his major from social work and graduated from Southern University with a double major in chemistry and biology. He then attended graduate school and acquired a Ph.D. in molecular oncology and tumor immunology from NYU School of Medicine in New York City. Dr. Greiffenstein wrote a letter of recommendation for Ledet to attend medical school and Ledet went on and attended medical school at Tulane’s School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana where he received his medical degree and an MBA.

As a medical student, Ledet has performed medical rotations at Baton Rouge General Medical Center, the same hospital he had previously worked as a security guard. Inspired by improving mental health in marginalized communities and children’s mental health, Ledet is doing his residency training at Indiana University in Indianapolis. The residency training is a triple-board residency program where he would be a pediatrician, adult psychiatrist, and child and adolescent psychiatrist.

Inspired by a photo shoot at Whitney Plantation in New Orleans, Louisiana Ledet had with 14 of his medical school colleagues (all Black) standing in front of slave quarters in their white coats, Ledet cofounded The 15 White Coats, a nonprofit organization that mentors students and encourages more black individuals to pursue a career in medicine.