SPHS Grad Serving In Navy Medical Field

The young Michelle Mandeville used to attend military-themed camps at the United States Naval Academy, close to her childhood home in Severna Park.

“I always wanted to join the Navy when I was little,” Mandeville said.

The 2013 graduate of her hometown high school has since fulfilled that desire to serve, all the while adding a combination of medical and military alphabet soup around her name that together signify one thing — success.

Mandeville now answers to both doctor and lieutenant, and she recently added another title — mom. The naval doctor and officer, along with her physician husband, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Lance Charlton, welcomed their son, Scotty, earlier this year.

Lieutenant Michelle Mandeville is currently part of the U.S. Navy’s medical corps and serves as a medical officer at the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, which sits across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk, Virginia.

After high school, Mandeville had her sights set on attending a service academy, but she had also developed another lofty goal. She wanted to pursue her interest in the medical field.

“When you're graduating from the Naval Academy, you're put into different billets, and so I wasn't sure if that would be a possibility if I went to the Naval Academy, so I ended up applying to Hopkins instead,” Mandeville said.

She settled in just fine as a Blue Jay. Not only did Mandeville study pre-med and history as an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins University, but she also earned a master’s degree in public health at the Baltimore-based school.

Although she studied in a civilian academic world initially, Mandeville never let her Navy ambitions stray too far.

“The whole time, I knew I wanted to do Navy medicine,” Mandeville said.

She next attended the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, a prestigious medical education and research center for the military located on the grounds of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

With the decision came a naval commitment, and another goal reached.

From there, Mandeville started a pediatric internship, where thanks in part to the birth of her son, she has sought to grasp her medical roots.

Mandeville was slated to attend a six-month flight school in Pensacola, Florida, as part of her plan to be a flight surgeon, but the birth of her son redirected Mandeville’s career. But there are no regrets from the Lower Magothy Beach native. Not only did she get promoted to mom, but it complemented her passion for pediatrics, a field she hopes to get back into as early as next year.

“I’d like to follow that route a little more,” Mandeville said. “There’s a lot of really great opportunities in the Navy for pediatrics.”

Mandeville sees her trajectory as a naval officer leaning to humanitarian medicine, citing recent efforts naval pediatricians helped spearhead in Afghanistan.

“Afghan refugees or evacuees, over half of them are children, right, and so there’s a really big need for Navy pediatrics, and a lot of humanitarian missions,” Mandeville said.

Mandeville also relishes the thought of working with the children of servicemembers, ideally somewhere along the Chesapeake Bay. Mandeville aims to make a career of her service.

“I think something that really surprised me with joining the Navy is how many opportunities you get that you’re not looking for,” Mandeville said.

One of those opportunities was attending a six-week course focusing on aquatic skills like dive medicine and underwater search and rescue.

“[It’s] just such a blessing, such a very amazing surprise,” Mandeville said. “Since I’ve joined the Navy, I’ve been able to travel all over the country.”