At the heart of Frontier Nursing University is a talented and diverse community of students, alumni, faculty, staff, Couriers and preceptors. Spotlight blogs feature members of our FNU community that are focused on the mission of educating nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners to deliver quality health care to underserved and rural populations.
In 1928, Mary Breckinridge, founder of Frontier Nursing University established the Courier Program, recruiting young people to come work in the Kentucky Mountains and learn about service to humanity. Couriers escorted guests safely through remote terrain, delivered medical supplies to remote outpost clinics, and helped nurse-midwives during home visits and births. Frontier has benefited tremendously from the 1,600 Couriers who have served since 1928.
Jess Rice learned about the Courier 
Program from a friend who had been a Courier the year before. She was just out of high school and was looking for an opportunity to explore an area outside of her hometown. She was interested in the program, and so she traveled to Wendover in 1994 to serve as a Courier.
As a Courier, Jess drove lab samples and other medical supplies between three hospitals. She shadowed a home health aide on home visits as well as many nurse practitioners. She also had the opportunity to observe a surgery. The surgeon was playing Pink Floyd throughout the operation. “I thought—oh my god, they are rock and rolling while doing surgery, how scandalous!” That surgery was an experience that Jess will never forget!
Jess lived in the Garden House while she was a Courier. She would sit on the front porch, play guitar, and spend time with other Couriers. Jess came from a sheltered, fundamentalist background, and one of the most life changing experiences for her was meeting college students from all over the country. They were seniors in college and Jess was just out of high school. She was awestruck, and she learned a lot from spending time with them.
She also learned to drive stick-shift while she was in Wendover. She remembers it was particularly difficult because of all of the hills in the area. She was determined to learn to drive stick-shift after she was invited to a religious service by a Minnesota woman. Jess did not want to stand her up so she decided to just do her best driving one of the FNS jeeps.
Jess spent a lot of her time getting involved in the community, but she enjoyed spending time by herself as well. She also spent time with Sherman Wooten. They made a stool together, she attended a fish fry at his house, and she remembers one time when he killed a copperhead with a shovel. After she left Wendover, Sherman would send her postcards every once in awhile that said, “Sherman Wooten, since 1910.”
Some of her most memorable experiences were the Fourth of July games—coon on a log and the green pig contest in which some 8-year-old boys wrestled a giant pig to the ground. It was amazing to her.
“It was a good place for someone like me to get exposure to a lot of things in a safe place. At the end of the summer, I was emotional about leaving. I did bond with that group,” Jess reflected.
After finishing the Courier Program, Jess did end up returning home and attending school in her hometown. However, she believes all of the different experiences as a Courier stayed with her. Inspired by her adventures in Wendover, she spent some of her summers as a hiking guide in Colorado. Her experiences as a Courier made Jess more willing to experiment, be adventurous, and take risks.
Jess ended up working at the American Red Cross for a year before pursuing a biology degree. However, she ended up steering more towards outdoor education, and she worked in the school system for a little while. A little later, she worked in the solar industry.
“It’s been a winding road, and I have not had a direct career path.”
Just recently, Jess finished her Certified Nursing Assistant program and is now working on her Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She believes that her experiences in the Courier Program, shadowing clinicians have stuck with her. Even if she doesn’t have distinct memory of it, these experiences inspired her to follow this healthcare path.
Not only did the Courier Program impact Jess’s ultimate career decision, it enhanced her life in many other areas as well.
“The biggest impact of the Courier Program is that I got my mind expanded in general. Not necessarily in healthcare or particular pieces of information. It was kind of a mind expanding experience for me in general.”
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).