Dr. Hélène Nau, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, graduated with her doctor of nursing practice (DNP) from Frontier Nursing University (FNU) in March of this year. Originally from Haiti, Nau built and ran the only emergency room in her home country and was the only trained emergency provider on the island when the devastating earthquake hit in January of 2010.
When the earthquake occurred, Nau was already an emergency RN, first responder, and medical reserve corps for Broward County and Miami-Dade. She is also advanced trauma, acute care and basic life support certified and has served in many critical environments and natural disaster-affected communities.
Following the earthquake recovery process, Nau moved to the United States to further her medical education. She earn
ed her bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) Magna Cum Laude from Chamberlain College of Nursing in 2015, then pursued her master of science in nursing (MSN) with a concentration in family medicine at Chamberlain University and graduated in 2017 with distinction.
Nau said she chose to become a family nurse practitioner (FNP) so that she could better provide a broad spectrum of care to those in need.
“I didn’t want to find myself limited to one population,” Nau said. “I wanted to be able to serve families, geriatric, women and pediatric, to provide as much care as possible. I believe in hands-on holistic care and enjoy the possibility of treating whole families.”
Nau first heard about Frontier while doing online research to find the best DNP program for her lifestyle. She chose FNU for the low tuition, flexibility and time frame offered for completing the DNP program. Although, once she enrolled, Nau found her favorite part of the program to be the Frontier Bound and Clinical Bound sessions. Nau loved connecting and building community with fellow students.
“I am incredibly thankful for all of the close friends I made through the FNU Bound sessions, and for the support I received from the wonderful faculty throughout my journey,” Nau said.
Nau completed her DNP at FNU with a 4.0 GPA.
In 2014 and 2015, Nau was the Volunteer of the Year Award recipient in Broward County. Additionally, this year she received the Pearl Of Nursing Award from Pearls of Life Women Foundation. She also is a Board Member for CapraCare, a non-profit organization dedicated to developing sustainable health programs for Haitian children and their families.
Because of her background working with those dealing with devastation, Nau’s focus is to deliver care to individuals and families who might otherwise go without access due to their immigration or financial status. For this reason, Nau opened her practice, HEALTH360, a direct primary care facility in Pembroke Pines, Fla. Her practice was created with the mission to deliver affordable and accessible quality care to those in her community. Through the direct primary care model, Nau can treat those without insurance or with high deductible plans more personally, with an obtainable cost for the patient.
Celebrating Dr. Nau’s 50th birthday at Neurofit360
In her spare time, Nau volunteers at NeuroFit360, a neurological recovery facility dedicated to spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries, where she dons multiple hats. She is in charge of human resources, health maintenance monitoring, X-ray and MRI reading. She also administers IV therapy at NeuroFit360 to neurologically injured clients and high-performance athletes.
Nau is also an outspoken cancer fighter who promotes early detection. Her DNP project was titled Implementation of Screening and Effective Care for Cancer Prevention at GetMed Urgent Care and worked to implement cancer screenings at an urgent care center that had not previously offered this service. Her results showed how easy and vital adding these types of programs to new environments can be.
To round off her many accomplishments, Nau is also a member of the Emergency Nurses Association, Haitian-American Nurses Association, Black Nurse Practitioners of Palm Beach County, AANP and Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society.
Although she is a board-certified family practitioner, runs her own practice and has won multiple awards, Nau likes to say that the most important people in her life just call her “Mom”.
Thank you, Hélène, for all you do to provide quality care to those in need. FNU is proud to have you as a part of our community!
To find out more about other compassionate and driven FNU alumni, visit the alumni news page.
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 
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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).