Recent graduate plans to improve maternal health abroad
Riverside, Calif. (June 18, 2026) — When she was 9 and still living in her native country of Kenya, an experience opened Samantha Mwendwa’s (’20, ’26) eyes to the crisis of reproductive health in her country.
Both her parents worked in the medical field, and Mwendwa often visited her mother’s clinic after school.
“One time when I was there, I heard screaming coming from a girl who was around the same age as me,” she said. “My mom told me to leave the clinic. I packed up my stuff and went home.”
Later that night, Mwendwa’s mother — never one to sugarcoat — explained what had happened.
“The girl was a victim of female genital mutilation,” Mwendwa said. “That blew my mind at 9 years old. That’s what fueled my desire and passion to step into sexual health.”
A couple years after that event, Mwendwa’s parents decided to move Mwendwa, her sister Julie and themselves to the United States in hopes of better options for education. Her sister Keira was born immediately after they moved.
Mwendwa lost her father just a few years after arriving to the U.S., due to a car accident that involved both of her parents. This event changed her life as she had to navigate grief among discovering what her purpose was.
“I think that’s why CBU resonated with me so much, especially its motto,” she said.
Mwendwa arrived on CBU’s campus in 2018. After graduating with a bachelor’s in public health in 2020, she worked for a healthcare nonprofit, diving further into behavioral therapy and analysis.
She became a mother while pursuing her master’s degree in public health, which partially influenced her to shift focus to postpartum care. Her current passion is maternal mortality in the United States, primarily in the case of Black mothers.
Graduate school and her own experience with motherhood taught Mwendwa that there are more deaths happening in postpartum for Black women than during prenatal or birth periods.
“I find that Kenya has so much potential, especially in the healthcare sector,” Mwendwa said. “It’s just that there aren’t enough resources or funding to help out the people who are already there, the clinics that have already been established.”
She’s in the process of applying for medical school, where she hopes to attain a doctorate in osteopathic medicine. After that, Mwendwa plans to return to Kenya and work with organizations like World Health Organization, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF or United Nations.
As she moves toward a future in healthcare, Mwendwa reflects on the path that brought her to where she is today.
“My path was not traditional. There were so many setbacks along the way, so this is quite an accomplishment for me to do this, and with my baby boy,” Mwendwa said. “Now, as I prepare to continue training towards becoming a physician, I’m excited to carry public health with me into every space I enter and hopefully inspire others to stay grounded in their purpose too.”