Though she has a well-established career in nursing with an extensive educational background and several formal recognitions for her work, Dr. Torica Fuller, DNP, MSN, FNP-BC, FNP-BC, CDP, CGRN, CPN, NRCME, of Raeford, North Carolina, is consistently looking for ways to gain more knowledge in order to better serve her patients. That’s why she is currently pursuing her Post-Graduate Certificate in Women’s Health Care from Frontier Nursing University.
Meet the Program Director: Dr. Khara’ Jefferson, DNP Program Director
Throughout her time working with FNU, Khara’ Jefferson, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, CHC has been a champion for higher education among nurses. As Director of the university’s Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program, she provides essential support to students in the program. Dr. Jefferson knows first-hand the benefits that come from earning a DNP degree through FNU, as she earned her degree from the university in 2017. She is a certified Family Nurse Practitioner through the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and before earning her DNP, she practiced in urgent care centers, telehealth, and emergency departments.
Russian-Born Viktoriya Kashin’s Mission to Aid Ukrainians
When Russia began its attack on Ukraine in February, the images were shocking and terrifying. The heartbreaking scenes of devastation and destruction impacted everyone, but it was all particularly impactful to Frontier Nursing University (FNU) alumnus Viktoriya Kashin, DNP, FNP, who was born in Russia. Her family immigrated to the United States in 1994 when she was 8. She traveled to Russia and Ukraine several times, staying connected to her homeland through friends and family. As the war began and casualties mounted, she knew she had to find a way to help. As a family nurse practitioner, Dr. Kashin, of course, is uniquely qualified to provide medical aid, and her knowledge and experience were needed in the war-torn country.
Elizabeth Akinyemi Came to the U.S. to Learn; Now She’s Ready to Teach
When Frontier Nursing University alumna Dr. Elizabeth Akinyemi, DNP, FNP, came to the United States from Nigeria, she had no plans to become a nurse. She dreamed of becoming a doctor, though teaching might have been an even better choice, given her tendency to quiz her patients. “I describe myself as a fierce patient educator. I love to teach my patients,” said Dr. Akinyemi, who worked for four years as a family nurse practitioner at Baylor Scott & White Health, the largest not-for-profit healthcare system in Texas with more than 50 hospitals and 800 additional patient care sites. “I won’t let you leave the clinic until you are sure about what you are doing. Lack of education can lead to unnecessary clinic visits and poor patient outcomes. I’ll ask my patients questions during the visit to gauge their attention and to assess their understanding of instructions. Spending that extra minute or two reinforcing knowledge goes a long way in ensuring patients are well educated about their health, that they have the tools they need, and that they know what to do if things get worse. My patients leave visits feeling like they have a working plan. It is reassuring to them. Nursing taught me that.”
Alumni Spotlight: Lisa Kiser focuses on community response to migration in the Borderlands
Frontier Nursing University (FNU) alumni Lisa Kiser, CNM, WHNP, DNP, holds a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree in both Nurse-Midwifery and Women’s Health Care and a Post-Master’s Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP). All three degrees were earned at FNU. A resident of Tucson, Arizona, Kiser currently serves as an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Arizona College of Nursing. She teaches three days a week in the DNP program, where she specializes in teaching women’s health. She also works as a women’s health nurse practitioner at United Community Health Center two days a week. She is very excited to be part of the team that is starting a nurse-midwifery program at the University of Arizona. The program is focused on increasing the diversity of midwives practicing and teaching in the state.
Dr. Rachel Risner Selected for National League for Nursing & Walden University College of Nursing Institute for Social Determinants of Health & Social Change
Frontier Nursing University is proud to announce that Dr. Rachel Risner, Ph.D., DNP, APRN, C-FNP, CNE, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, has been selected to participate in the National League for Nursing & Walden University College of Nursing Institute for Social Determinants of Health & Social Change. On August 8 and 9 Dr. Risner attended an orientation to the Social Determinants of Health & Social Change Leadership Academy, held in Washington, D.C. The orientation was the start of the year-long program, which is a key element of a groundbreaking collaboration between the League and Walden University College of Nursing Institute for Social Determinants of Health and Social Change, launched last year to bring about positive social change through focused professional development.
Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Kristin Gianelis Recognized with Circle of Caring Award
Frontier Nursing University (FNU) is proud to recognize faculty member Kristin Gianelis, DNP, APRN, ANP, WHNP, who was one of the recipients of the Winter 2021 Circle of Caring Award. A resident of Barrington, Rhode Island, Gianelis serves as a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) faculty member for FNU. Through this role, she mentors DNP students to become agents of change in their communities. Outside of her work with the university, she also works in a clinical setting and dedicates her time to improving healthcare access for underserved populations.
Boston Midwife Prepares to Open Alabama’s First Birth Center
To the casual observer, opening Birth Sanctuary Gainesville might not make a lot of sense. First, Gainesville is a rural town in Alabama with a population of less than 200. Second, because of state regulations that severely restrict the scope of care nurse-midwives can provide, there are no birth centers in the entire state. That is about to change because FNU alumni Dr. Stephanie Mitchell, DNP, CNM, CPM, plans to open Birth Sanctuary Gainesville later this year. While the uncertainties are many, Mitchell insists, “It will get done.”
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).