06/14/2026
Alumni spotlight! When Tanesha Mondestin started at Wor-Wic, she was a teenager — a dual-enrollment student from Wicomico High School who thought health care would be a good path. She earned her associate degree and transferred to the University of Maryland College Park. “Wor-Wic was a great environment to start college in,” she said. “It was easy to have a good rapport with professors and ask questions. I think it encouraged me to go ahead in my education.”
As part of her studies at UMD, she also got a life-changing internship in Washington, D.C., at the Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs. “I was looking at health policy and research, and it made me so interested in maternal health that I changed my major from biology to public health and anthropology,” she said.
Upon graduating, she was accepted into a master of public health program at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. After earning her master's, Mondestin now works as a research associate for Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, researching Medicaid policy on maternal and early childhood health.
“I love my job, I love what I do,” she said. Still, she wants to do more. Mondestin returned to Wor-Wic to complete prerequisites to enter a post-baccalaureate, pre-med program, with the aim of becoming an obstetrician. It’s a career in which she knows she could make a difference. “My parents were born in Haiti,” she said. “They have one of the highest maternal death rates. My father went back to visit and met a young woman who died along with her baby. I could see how much it affected him. If I can improve the health of even one area, or help one person, it motivates everything I do.”
Mondestin wants to specialize in high-risk pregnancy, since her research into health disparities, including a visit to maternal hospitals in Liberia, has shown that maternal care could be improved. Her knowledge, combined with a personal passion, is helping to shape her into an unstoppable force for women who need a strong health care advocate the most.
Thank you, Tanesha, for being a force for good health in the community - Wor-Wic is proud of your accomplishments!
