Alumni of Frontier Nursing University (FNU) are contributing to the future of healthcare by sharing their research to educate present and future students.
Several FNU alumni have authored research chapters in a text for nursing students. The Fifth Edition of Caring for the Vulnerable: Perspectives in Nursing Theory, Practice, and Research will feature a staggering 12 FNU representatives. These include 9 Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) graduates, 4 faculty or former faculty members, and a Certified Nurse-Midwife (CNM) Master’s graduate.
Caring for the Vulnerable is a supplementary text material focusing on developing programs, conducting research, and influencing health policy when caring for vulnerable populations. The Fifth Edition contains 31 new chapters that emphasize relevance to DNP-prepared nurses.
FNU’s DNP program is designed for registered nurses who want to elevate their practice to the highest level. The program builds on knowledge acquired during master’s studies by incorporating evidence-based practice and systemic leadership in working towards quality improvement in both individual and community health care.
Chapters written by FNU alumni in Caring for the Vulnerable include:
Chapter 13: A Systematic Review of Cardiopathy and Peripartum Mortality in the United States by Andrew Youmans, MS, CNM
Chapter 21: Hepatitis C Epidemic, Outreach and Intervention for Boomers by Greg Grevera, DNP, FNP
Chapter 22: Trauma Informed Primary Care: Promoting Change among Patients with Early Life Adversity by Tracey Weise, DNP, FNP, PSMNP (Jonas Scholar)
Chapter 23: Opioid Abuse and Diversion Prevention in Rural Eastern Kentucky by Tricia Flake, DNP, FNP
Chapter 24: Culturally Contextualized Community Outreach Program to Promote Breastfeeding among African-American Women by Rachel Simmons, DNP, WHNP
Chapter 25: Strangulation Related to Intimate Partner Violence: Caring for Vulnerable Women in the Emergency Department by Jeanne Parrish, DNP, FNP
Chapter 26: The Effects of Gun Trauma on Rural Montana Health Care Providers by Margaret Bortko, DNP, FNP
Chapter 28: Caring for Vulnerable Populations: Outcomes with the DNP Prepared Nurse by Barbara Anderson, Professor Emerita, DrPH, CNM and Gwen Short (former DNP faculty, FNU)
Chapter 29: Vulnerability and Resilience: Teaching Students in Low Resource and Culturally Unfamiliar Settings by Barbara Anderson, Professor Emerita, DrPH, CNM
Chapter 33: Facing the Nursing Workforce Shortage: Policies and Initiatives to Promote a Resilient Health Care System    by Barbara Anderson, Professor Emerita, DrPH, CNM
Chapter 34: The Implementation of the Strong Start for Mothers and Newborns Initiative in Freestanding Birth Centers  by Jill Alliman, DNP, CNM (FNU faculty); Susan Stapleton, DNP, CNM (former FNU faculty)
Chapter 35: Protecting Vulnerable Populations from Mosquito-Borne Diseases: The Cases of Yellow Fever and Zika by Pauline Tither, DNP, FNP
FNU is proud of our alumni who continue to influence not only patients under their direct care but also students striving to follow in their footsteps.
Caring for the Vulnerable, Fifth Edition is available in print and electronic versions on Jones & Bartlett as well as Amazon.
To find out more about FNU’s DNP program, visit Frontier.edu/doctor-of-nursing-practice.
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).