Laura Manns-James, PhD, CNM, WHNP-BC, CNE, FACNME

Dr. Laura Manns-James is a two-time Frontier graduate. She first earned her certified nurse-midwifery (CNM) degree, then completed the post-master’s women’s health nurse practitioner program. She has been a faculty member at Frontier since 2004. Dr. Manns-James holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto in women’s studies and cultural anthropology, and a Bachelor of Nursing from St Louis University’s accelerated option. In 2014, Dr. Manns-James was awarded the American College of Nurse-Midwives’ Foundation’s Fellowship for Graduate Education to support her doctoral work. In 2015, she received the March of Dimes graduate scholarship. She completed a PhD in nursing research in 2017. 

Before becoming a nurse-midwife, Dr. Manns-James worked in maternity nursing and in child/adolescent mental health. Upon graduating from FNU, she worked as a CNM in a full-scope role in southwestern New Mexico.  

Dr. Manns-James is an Associate Editor for the Clinical Practice Guidelines for Midwifery and Women’s Health (6th edition) text, published in January 2021, and a managing editor for the 7th edition, in press and scheduled for release in early 2026.  

She is a Fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives and was awarded Frontier’s Dr. Susan Stone Faculty Award for Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. She won an APEX Award for Publication Excellence. She is a two-time recipient of the Frontier Student Choice Award for Teaching Excellence (2015 and 2022).