If you know anything about Frontier Nursing University (FNU), you’ve likely heard of Kitty Ernst, FACNM, BS Ed, MPH, DSc (hon)! Kitty has been a part of the FNU community since she first began her career as a midwife in 1951 with the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS). Now, as a member of FNU’s Board of Directors, Kitty’s work is focused on educating more midwives so that all women can have access to safe healthcare.
Ernst chose to work for FNS because she was inspired by the work of founder Mary Breckinridge, who pioneered a workable, affordable system of birth and health care for mothers and families in the least accessible and most impoverished mountains of Southeast Kentucky. Not only did Mary Breckinridge lead Kitty to FNS, but she also led her down the path of midwifery.
Although Kitty is now hailed as one of the United State’s greatest proponents of midwifery education, her path to midwifery wasn’t straightforward. It wasn’t until she experienced the home birth of a strong mountain woman during her time as a student at FNS that Kitty realized how important midwifery is for the health of women and families. The work of Mary Breckinridge inspired her and helped her see the valuable role midwifery plays in the health of families.
Because the midwives trained by Mary Breckinridge were able to have such a great impact on their community in Kentucky, Kitty knew that educating new nurse-midwives was essential to transforming health care not only for mothers, but for their families as well.
“All health care begins with the care and education of the mother,” said Kitty, quoting one of the key beliefs of Frontier Nursing Service.
After serving as a nurse-midwife for several years, Kitty began to advocate for nurse-midwives to have a strong role in American healthcare, something she continues to do today. Over the course of her career, she has published valuable information defining the role of a nurse-midwife and even played a crucial role in the first accreditation of nurse-midwife programs in the U.S.
Since Ernst’s work has been dedicated to midwifery, a path she only pursued because of Mary Breckinridge’s influence on her life, it makes sense why she currently holds a position of FNU’s Board of Directors. As Mary Breckinridge Chair of Midwifery at FNU, she is able to help promote the education of nurse-midwives at Frontier who will bring safe maternal healthcare to their patients.
There are so many enjoyable parts of her job that Ernst finds it hard to choose one favorite. She has enjoyed seeing the growth and expansion of FNU over the years while still keeping tuition affordable. What is even more gratifying, however, is seeing how the dedication of faculty, staff and leaders at FNU enables students to master nursing skills, pass their certifying exams, and eventually go on to work in rural and underserved areas just as Mary Breckinridge did.
Kitty is revered not only by FNU, but by other institutions as well. Each year, the American College of Nurse-Midwives presents the Kitty Ernst Award to a midwife or women’s health care professional who has demonstrated creativity and innovation in their field.
FNU is thankful for Kitty and her long legacy of promoting midwifery education in the United States!
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).