Baton Rouge doctors share almost everything | Events

They are known as the Shamlin twins.

Dr. Kenyatta Shamlin-Haynes and Dr. Tasha Shamlin.

"But our mom would dress us alike and we did everything together so we grew up like twins," Dr. Kenyatta says.  

They are not actually twins--they were born 15 months apart.

"Whenever patients come and I've never met them, I'll say you've never met me, but I'm Dr. Tasha Shamlin,the younger sister," Dr. Tasha says.

While they don't share the same birthday, they pretty much share everything else.

The sisters both specialize in internal medicine and pediatrics.

They both work at the Baton Rouge Family Medical Clinic.

And they run a successful business together--the Medical Spa of Baton Rouge.

'I think we complement each other," Dr. Kenyatta says.  "I hate to say it like husband and wife, but we kind of  make each other whole. But I've always enjoyed working with her. I don't think it would be the same without working with my sister."

"The best part about working with my sister is she has my back," Dr. Tasha says.  "I never have to worry. If one of us is sick or one of us has to be out we're always going to fill in and make sure it works.  We don't complain. We just get the job done."

They have had each others back since they were little.  They grew up in Baton Rouge and their parents were both educators.

"Tasha started school when she was four because I was crying," Kenyatta says.  "She'll probably tell you this story because she loves to tell it. But I was crying because I had never been away from my sister. Since kindergarten we've been in school together."

"So she refused to go so my father who was principal of the school at the time decided to start me early," Tasha says.  "And I was so happy to be with my sister because I missed her so much. My parents started me in school in kindergarten. Then she cried because I wasn't in the same class so then they had to move me from my kindergarten class to her kindergarten class and we've been together ever since."

The sisters graduated from Baton Rouge High School and LSU before moving to Houston to attend Baylor College of Medicine and doing their residency. But the plan was always to come back home.

"I love Louisiana," Tasha says.  "Every state has its problems, but this is really home."

Now that they're home, the Shamlin "twins" say they couldn't be happier--as long as they are together.

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