VCU twins are a double-dose of health care service as EMTs and researchers

By William Lineberry
Honors College

If you call 911 in Richmond, the emergency medical technicians who arrive might have you seeing double. That's because identical twins Akash and Arjun Jagdeesh, who are seniors in Virginia Commonwealth University's Honors College, could respond to help you.

For the past two years, Akash and Arjun, who are majoring in biology in the College of Humanities and Sciences, have worked as certified EMTs for the Richmond Ambulance Authority. Their service is an extension of their classroom and on-campus pursuits.

"When people call 911, we travel to people's houses when they are not feeling the best or when they feel the most vulnerable," Arjun said. "And when we get there, whether it's a chronic illness they have been dealing with for a long time or an emergency that turns their life upside down, we get to see the impact of medicine and can help comfort and provide care for them."

As freshmen, Akash and Arjun enrolled in the Honors College. They assessed options for work outside of the classroom for pre-medicine students, which included shadowing doctors and serving as a medical scribe. But the immediate impact and experience of working as an EMT appealed to them the most - they saw an opportunity to connect directly with patients and explore the practice of medicine in real time.

The twins started studying for their EMT certification and received it during the summer after freshman year. The following spring, Akash and Arjun began working as EMTs for the Richmond Ambulance Authority.

"Not only do we learn from a medical standpoint, we are also able to improve our ability to connect with other people," Arjun said. "It really helps you see a patient where they are at and put yourself in their situation."

"As EMTs, we get to see so many different neighborhoods in Richmond and work with so many different types of patients," Akash added. "Being an EMT has really shown me a different side of emergency medicine that I did not anticipate. When I started, I thought it would be like all these really intense situations where something bad has happened, but a lot of what I do and see as an EMT is not that."

So while learning about the technical elements of emergency care has been valuable, understanding the patient's immediate needs has been a revelation for the twins, Arjun said.

"Sometimes our patients aren't having crazy emergencies, like Akash said, but sometimes their emergency is not knowing something or being anxious about what is happening to them," Arjun said. "Being able to provide what they need is the most helpful thing you can do as a health care provider."

On campus, Akash and Arjun's dedication to health care careers is reflected in their undergraduate research.

During freshman year, Arjun joined the team of Larisa Litovchick, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of internal medicine in the VCU School of Medicine, to examine human papillomavirus, which can lead to cancer. Akash joined the team of Joseph Landry, Ph.D., associate professor of cellular, molecular and genetic medicine in the School of Medicine, to explore mechanisms of chemotherapy resistance and how treatment can be more effective.

The twins also have taken this research and separate research projects to the national level, including presenting at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research gatherings in California and Wisconsin. (NCUR 2026 will take place in April in Richmond.)

The twins said they have been grateful for the opportunity to learn through both VCU's Monroe Park and MCV campuses - as well as the larger community.

"From my own experience as a freshman, I was involved in clubs and student orgs and it was great, but it was all in a very enclosed kind of space that was on campus," Akash said. "But once I became an EMT, I saw this whole other side of Richmond."

His and Arjun's commitment to the city goes beyond EMT duty. They also volunteer at the International Rescue Committee, helping refugees navigate educational, employment and health care needs.

"It's another way of involving yourself with something off campus that can show you a perspective maybe you have not yet considered," Akash said. "It can show you how different someone's life in Richmond can be and what people go through."