Many rural and underserved communities have limited access to obstetric care, which often means fewer Women’s Health Nurse Practitioners (WHNPs) practicing in those areas. This gap creates an opportunity for nurses who want to influence health care outcomes in their communities with a focus on women’s health.
WHNPs are advanced practice nurses who specialize in comprehensive, continuous health care for women across the lifespan. With a specialization in women’s health, nurse practitioners can expand access to routine and preventative care closer to home, reducing barriers that often cause women to delay or go without care. WHNPs also provide compassionate care with an understanding of the personal, cultural, and social factors that shape a woman’s health decisions.
The scope of a WHNP’s practice includes well-woman visits, primary care, reproductive and gynecologic care, and prenatal and postpartum services. In addition, WHNPs emphasize health promotion, disease prevention, patient education, and shared decision-making. Their responsibilities include routine wellness exams, menopause management, prescribing contraception, and diagnosing and treating gynecologic and other conditions. WHNP practice can include procedures like ultrasound, biopsy, and contraceptive insertion. WHNPs practice in a wide variety of settings, including OB-GYN offices, community health centers, hospitals, private practices, and more. Specialty roles of the WHNP include infertility, pelvic pain, sexual health, gynecologic oncology, gender-related care, and maternal-fetal medicine.
According to a 2024 study published in the Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing, there are approximately 13,000 board-certified WHNPs in the United States. While this is meaningful progress, it falls short of meeting national demand. The American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) reports that only about 2 percent of licensed nurse practitioners nationwide specialize primarily in women’s health.
Given the scope, complexity, and growing demand for women’s health care services, more WHNPs are needed in the United States for several key reasons:
- Continuity of care – Relationship-based care is essential to positive health outcomes. WHNPs are uniquely positioned to care for patients across the lifespan, from adolescence and pregnancy to menopause and beyond. This continuity fosters trust and leads to better care plans. With earlier detection of health concerns, women can experience better long-term outcomes.
- Maternal health outcomes – Maternal mortality rates and disparities in the United States remain deeply concerning. WHNPs are essential partners in improving maternal health outcomes through preventive care, education, and ongoing clinical support.
- Complexity of reproductive health care – As access to reproductive health care becomes increasingly complex and constrained, the full-scope role of the WHNP has never been more critical. WHNPs provide comprehensive, patient-centered care and serve as advocates within their communities.
How to Become a WHNP with an MSN or PGC
Meeting this growing demand requires accessible, high-quality educational pathways for future WHNPs. Frontier Nursing University (FNU) offers a graduate Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner specialty track that can be pursued full– or part-time while completing a Master of Science in Nursing or a Post-Graduate Certificate. Students also have the option to pursue a Doctor of Nursing Practice at FNU.
Frontier’s flexible online format allows students to complete coursework in their home communities while building a larger network with peers, faculty, and alumni. Students often point to the faculty’s consistent presence and support as a hallmark of their FNU experience.
Following completion of their didactic coursework, students gain hands-on clinical experience working alongside preceptors. FNU has a dedicated clinical outreach and placement team to assist students in identifying potential clinical sites.
Take the Next Step Toward Becoming a WHNP
Ready to take the next step in your nursing career? A Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner MSN can open the door to new opportunities and meaningful impact. At FNU, WHNP students are equipped to provide evidence-based care for women throughout every stage of life, supported by real-world clinical training and strong support from the FNU community.
To learn more about the online WHNP specialty program at Frontier Nursing University, click here.
To explore all Frontier Nursing University degrees and specialties, click here.
Carrie Belin is an experienced board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner and a graduate of the Johns Hopkins DNP program, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Georgetown University School of Nursing, and Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She has also completed fellowships at Georgetown and the University of California Irvine.
Angie has been a full-scope midwife since 2009. She has experience in various birth settings including home, hospital, and birth centers. She is committed to integrating the midwifery model of care in the US. She completed her master’s degree in nurse-midwifery at Frontier Nursing University (FNU) and her Doctorate at Johns Hopkins University. She currently serves as the midwifery clinical faculty at FNU. Angie is motivated by the desire to improve the quality of healthcare and has led quality improvement projects on skin-to-skin implementation, labor induction, and improving transfer of care practices between hospital and community midwives. In 2017, she created a short film on skin-to-skin called 
Justin C. Daily, BSN, RN, has ten years of experience in nursing. At the start of his nursing career, Justin worked as a floor nurse on the oncology floor at St. Francis. He then spent two years as the Director of Nursing in a small rural Kansas hospital before returning to St. Francis and the oncology unit. He has been in his current position as the Chemo Nurse Educator for the past four years. He earned an Associate in Nurse from Hutchinson Community College and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Bethel College.
Brandy Jackson serves as the Director of Undergraduate Nursing Programs and Assistant Educator at Wichita State University and Co-Director of Access in Nursing. Brandy is a seasoned educator with over 15 years of experience. Before entering academia, Brandy served in Hospital-based leadership and Critical Care Staff nurse roles. Brandy is passionate about equity in nursing education with a focus on individuals with disabilities. Her current research interests include accommodations of nursing students with disabilities in clinical learning environments and breaking down barriers for historically unrepresented individuals to enter the nursing profession. Brandy is also actively engaged in Interprofessional Education development, creating IPE opportunities for faculty and students at Wichita State. Brandy is an active member of Wichita Women for Good and Soroptimist, with the goal to empower women and girls. Brandy is a TeamSTEPPS master trainer. She received the DASIY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Faculty in 2019 at Wichita State University. 
Dr. Sabrina Ali Jamal-Eddine is an Arab-disabled queer woman of color with a PhD in Nursing and an interdisciplinary certificate in Disability Ethics from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). Dr. Jamal-Eddine’s doctoral research explored spoken word poetry as a form of critical narrative pedagogy to educate nursing students about disability, ableism, and disability justice. Dr. Jamal-Eddine now serves as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in UIC’s Department of Disability and Human Development and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Organization of Nurses with Disabilities (NOND). During her doctoral program, Sabrina served as a Summer Fellow at a residential National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute at Arizona State University (2023), a summer fellow at Andrew W. Mellon’s National Humanities Without Walls program at University of Michigan (2022), a Summer Research Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute (2021), and an Illinois Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) trainee (2019-2020).
Vanessa Cameron works for Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nursing Education & Professional Development. She is also attending George Washington University and progressing towards a PhD in Nursing with an emphasis on ableism in nursing. After becoming disabled in April 2021, Vanessa’s worldview and perspective changed, and a recognition of the ableism present within healthcare and within the culture of nursing was apparent. She has been working since that time to provide educational foundations for nurses about disability and ableism, provide support for fellow disabled nursing colleagues, and advocate for the disabled community within healthcare settings to reduce disparities.
Dr. Lucinda Canty is a certified nurse-midwife, Associate Professor of Nursing, and Director of the Seedworks Health Equity in Nursing Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Columbia University, a master’s degree from Yale University, specializing in nurse-midwifery, and a PhD from the University of Connecticut. Dr. Canty has provided reproductive health care for over 29 years. Her research interests include the prevention of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, reducing racial and ethnic health disparities in reproductive health, promoting diversity in nursing, and eliminating racism in nursing and midwifery.
Dr. Lisa Meeks is a distinguished scholar and leader whose unwavering commitment to inclusivity and excellence has significantly influenced the landscape of health professions education and accessibility. She is the founder and executive director of the DocsWithDisabilities Initiative and holds appointments as an Associate Professor in the Departments of Learning Health Sciences and Family Medicine at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Nikia Grayson, DNP, MSN, MPH, MA, CNM, FNP-C, FACNM (she/her) is a trailblazing force in reproductive justice, blending her expertise as a public health activist, anthropologist, and family nurse-midwife to champion the rights and health of underserved communities. Graduating with distinction from Howard University, Nikia holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s degree in public health. Her academic journey also led her to the University of Memphis, where she earned a master’s in medical anthropology, and the University of Tennessee, where she achieved both a master’s in nursing and a doctorate in nursing practice. Complementing her extensive education, she completed a post-master’s certificate in midwifery at Frontier Nursing University.
Dr. Tia Brown McNair is the Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in Washington, DC. She oversees both funded projects and AAC&U’s continuing programs on equity, inclusive excellence, high-impact practices, and student success. McNair directs AAC&U’s Summer Institutes on High-Impact Practices and Student Success, and TRHT Campus Centers and serves as the project director for several AAC&U initiatives, including the development of a TRHT-focused campus climate toolkit. She is the lead author of From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education (January 2020) and Becoming a Student-Ready College: A New Culture of Leadership for Student Success (July 2016 and August 2022 Second edition).