Frontier Nursing University (FNU) faculty and staff members challenged their thinking about birth justice and reproductive oppression this year at the 2018 ACNM Conference in Savannah, Ga. FNU President Dr. Susan Stone, staff members Shelley Aldridge and Angela Bailey, and faculty members Drs. Jane Houston, Nena Harris, Niessa Meier and Ally Williams coordinated the first annual FNU Case Day and Panel on Birth Justice and Equity, held on May 22, 2018.
Officially entitled “FNU Celebrates ‘The Soul of Savannah’: Taking us Back to our Beginnings: Being Colored & Colonized,” FNU’s hopes in pioneering and supporting this event was that it would lead to open conversation about equality in birth outcomes and allow many voices to be heard on the topic.
The three-hour discussion began with Case Presentations from FNU students, who shared their case findings and information on health disparities. The presentations are listed below by student and topic:
Lauren Cox – Vaginismus
Stephanie Martinez – Chicago Birth Workers of Color (ChiBiWoCo) (see video here)
Corianne Parada – Placental Abruption
FNU students Case Day presenters at ACNM (left to right: Stephanie Martinez, Lauren Cox, Corianne Parada)
Each presentation fulfilled the students’ Case Day requirements and allowed for questions after the closing statements.
Stephanie Martinez, one of the case presenters, was pleased to have an open discussion about so many of the issues that plague their community. They are a co-founder of ChiBiWoCo, a grassroots collective of birth workers of color providing full spectrum services throughout the Chicagoland area.
“Born out of need, we work to support communities of color in their birthing and reproductive choices through our ancestral wisdom and birthright,” said Martinez.
Martinez entered the health care workforce after learning of the great prevalence of sterilization abuse and violence directed toward youth in the sex trade at the hands healthcare personnel.
“We envision communities that are able to thrive, self-determine, and live autonomously, free from judgment, ridicule, and criminalization as it relates to their choices of parenting and birth.”
FNU Birth Panel Participants at 2018 ACNM
The event continued with the Panel portion, an informative discussion about birth justice moderated by Keisha Edwards with FNU faculty members Nena Harris and Heather Clarke, FNU alumna Dalia Lee, and certified nurse-midwives Mandesa Smith and Venay Uecke.
Participants shared clinical experiences and insights into how the health care workforce can address issues surrounding birth justice, health disparities and bias.
The conversation that took place at the panel is one step in the right direction for tackling those disparities and creating optimal birth outcomes for more families around the nation.
According to Nena Harris, PhD, FNP-BC, CNM, the discussion is one that needs to continue in order to keep pushing in the right direction.
“We would like to do this event annually at ACNM,” said Harris.
Panel participants came away with several takeaways from the discussion.
“We need to actively listen to ALL midwives and birth partners (providers too), to improve pregnancy and health outcomes particularly among people of color and/or marginalized persons due to gender identity or sexual orientation,” said Dr. Jane Houston, DNP, CNM, ARNP, RM, Clinical Director of Midwifery and Women’s Health at FNU.
“This annual event brought together a powerful group in a free discussion format for all stakeholders. Thanks, FNU, for your support of this venture.”
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).