Two Frontier Nursing University graduates have implemented impactful doctoral projects into their Kentucky communities.
Nurses Nina Booth and Carrie Dunaway began their education at FNU through the ADN Bridge Entry Option and went straight through earning their Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree to their Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree. Nina and Carrie each implemented a DNP Project and Practicum as part of the program. The projects serve to provide FNU DNP students with a facilitated service learning opportunity.
Nina’s DNP project established a Palliative Care Program for rural, chronically-ill patients. Originally from the Lake Cumberland, Ky. area, Nina was a hospice nurse for eight years before deciding to enter the ADN-MSN bridge program. She had visited Frontier as an LPN student and was awestruck and inspired by the history and by Mary Breckinridge’s mission.
After completing her MSN in 2017 as a family nurse practitioner, she pioneered the Palliative Care Program in the Lake Cumberland district as part of her Companion DNP that she would complete in 2018.
Nina Booth, FNU DNP Student
Nina formed the idea for the project after noticing a need for improved access among patients with cancer and pain crisis. She provides them with symptom relief, support, education of advanced directives, goals of care planning, helps with equipment needs and supplies, and if necessary, helps them transition into hospice care.
“I want to bring access to palliative care to chronically ill residents in my community that are seeking aggressive care and having symptom burden, that would otherwise not find relief until giving up curative care and pursuing hospice,” she said.
Her project, the first of its kind in the area, allowed her to complete her Companion DNP. While in the ADN Bridge program, Nina made vital connections with the Frontier community. Her distance learning experience was enhanced by lifelong friends she made and the overall mission she was pursuing.
“I chose to get my DNP so that I could be a healthcare leader in my community,” she said. “I am proud every single day to carry out Mary’s mission of reaching families in rural communities.”
Carrie’s DNP project instituted a Quality Improvement initiative for adult cardiac patients. Carrie serves as a Cardiology Nurse Practitioner at Lexington Clinic in Lexington, Ky. Her personal experience of watching her father suffer a heart attack and seeing subpar subsequent cardiac care was what drove her to pursue a nurse practitioner degree after 25 years in the nursing profession.
Carrie Dunaway, FNU DNP Student
The calling to advance her education in cardiology led her to the nurse practitioner role, where she could treat patients autonomously, to the completion of her MSN, and finally to the ADN Bridge Program to earn her DNP.
“Attaining the DNP not only has given me more respect as a nurse practitioner from my colleagues, it has also given me the ability to hopefully become a nursing faculty as well so that I can teach other nurses pursuing their nurse practitioner degree,” she said.
Carrie’s DNP project sought to reduce strokes in atrial fibrillation patients. Her results were successful: she recorded 36% stroke reduction in atrial fibrillation patients by increasing appropriate anticoagulation from 55% to 91% in 90 days. She was asked to present findings to the head of the section meeting at Lexington Clinic.
Following the project’s success, Carrie is now working on establishing an Atrial Fibrillation Clinic in her cardiology practice.
Carrie formed invaluable friendships in her time at Frontier, and received ample support from faculty and ancillary staff while receiving her DNP.
“Coming together with other students at the university was imperative to my success, which is something you do not get at other online institutions,” she said.
She stays connected to the Frontier network and mission through volunteer work as a Family Nurse Practitioner providing health care to underserved and uninsured patients.
“I am so thankful that I was able to attain my degree at an establishment so rich in tradition and history,” she said.
Congratulations, Nina and Carrie, on the success of your projects and the impact you’ve had on our home state of Kentucky!
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).