Meet the Geneus Family of Haitian Origin Who Are All Doctors

Vladimir, Christian, and Olivia Geneus are three doctors from Boston, Massachusetts. Jacques and Chantal Geneus, their parents, are also medical doctors. Growing up, Jacques and Chantal emphasized in their children the importance of education. Today, all three Haitian-born children have obtained PhDs in their respective fields of study.

“Our parents — successful physicians — encouraged us. They always encouraged us to pursue education to be successful in life — to have an impact on ourselves, our family, and the community,” Vladimir told Forbes.

Vladimir and his siblings received their undergraduate degrees at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (UMass-Amherst). Vladimir, the oldest, graduated in 2009, followed by Christian in 2011, and Olivia in 2017.

All three siblings said they chose UMass because they wanted to be near to home and enjoy Boston sports, which they can’t live without. And, thanks to his parents’ assistance, Vladimir now works at AbbVie in Chicago, Illinois, after receiving his Ph.D. in statistics from Florida State University in 2017.

Olivia received her Ph.D. in chemistry at SUNY-Buffalo in 2022 and is currently employed at Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis, Indiana. Their brother Christian, who graduated from Tulane University with a Ph.D. in biostatistics and data science as well as math and computer science in 2020, works for Proctor & Gamble in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The siblings stated they were lured to science after witnessing their parents’ daily activities and the devotion they showed their patients as medical physicians. Their parents didn’t worry what field their children selected since they believed that as long as they were educated, they would be successful in their varied activities.

“It really didn’t matter what the field, they knew a lot of doors and opportunities would open with education. They said, ‘they can’t take away the degree from you’,” Olivia recalled her parents saying.

Indeed, the more than 40 million black people in the United States are making big waves in different sectors of the economy, including healthcare, entertainment, business, sports, and technology, and are generating cash and creating jobs. This is despite the fact that Blacks are frequently subjected to unfair political attacks in various countries.

Even though Black scientists have contributed to society and made groundbreaking discoveries throughout history, Blacks continue to be underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics when compared to their overall distribution in the U.S. population.

According to a study published in the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, blacks make up roughly 12% of the adult population in the United States but just 9% of the STEM workforce in 2021.

As their parents suggested, the Geneus siblings are definitely paving the way for other Blacks while giving back to their communities.

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