Frontier Nursing University (FNU) alumna Maria Mayzel, MSN (Class 87), uses her master’s degree in nurse-midwifery to bring excellent care to underserved populations in her community.
Maria is a nurse-midwife at Bay Area Midwifery Center, which gives her the opportunity to serve in both a hospital setting and a birth center for patients looking for an out of hospital (OOH) option. Her situation is unique because she works with two very different underserved populations.
First, 25%-35% of the patients at their midwifery center are Spanish speaking, many of whom recently immigrated to the U.S. Maria, along with the Center’s nurses and office secretary, are bilingual in English and Spanish and are able to serve these clients with the care and understanding that many other providers could not offer due to the language barrier.
“We serve a large population of recent immigrants and are able to offer care in their native language. These clients often have no one else to care for them and have found a home at our center,” Maria said.
The second group Maria has the opportunity to serve is local military families. Bay Area Midwifery Center provides a high-quality, convenient birthing option right where they live. In addition, one of Maria’s CNM colleagues is a 21-year veteran of the U.S. Navy, which makes our special military families feel more at home.
“Without our birth center and hospital practice, these families would be forced to travel to far-away bases to receive prenatal care and/or deliver their babies.”
Bay Area Midwifery Center is one of only three birth centers in Maryland, which helps them fill a void in OOH birth options in the state not only for military families and immigrants, but to all families looking for an OOH or hospital birthing experience.
Patients who desire OOH birthing experiences have the support of the midwifery center staff as well as additional support from the hospital if needed. Maria and her colleagues are hospital employees and work closely with the OB Hospitalist team to co-manage higher risk clients.
“I believe our collaborative model works to improve patient outcomes and satisfaction,” said Maria.
Although Maria has been busy serving her community as a nurse-midwife, she has still managed to add to her knowledge of best nursing practices. Since graduating from FNU in 2014, she has received her ACLS-OB certification, EFM certification, and additional training in Limited OB US and First Assist for Cesarean Section. In 2017 she received her WHNP Post-Graduate Certificate so that she could offer even better care to her patients.
“Adding on my WHNP was important because I am committed to providing evidence-based well-woman care to our clients and feel all clients should have the option of midwifery-led GYN care if they are low-risk,” Maria explained.
It is clear that Maria values learning and the impact a quality education can have on a nurse-midwife’s ability to help patients, which is one of many reasons why Maria chose to pursue her MSN degree specializing in Nurse-Midwifery at FNU.
Maria said, “I chose Frontier because of the flexible program, the excellent reputation, and the cost-effectiveness.”
Maria’s entire journey of becoming a nurse-midwife is a result of her desire to make an impact in her community. This is what drives her to continue her education and provide the best possible care to her clients.
“I want to make a difference in my client’s lives not just during one moment in their pregnancy, but throughout the entire journey: prenatal through postpartum and beyond,” she said.
Maria was recently featured in the Midwives episode of The Dig, a regional television special highlighting art, innovation, and undiscovered gems. Watch the clip by visiting MarylandPublicTelevision.tv.
Thank you, Maria, for the care and dedication you show to your patients every day. Frontier is honored to call you an alumna. Keep up the amazing work!
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.
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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.
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