Frontier Nursing University (FNU) is excited to announce that Dr. Maria J. Small, MD, MPH, was unanimously approved as the newest member of FNU’s Board of Directors during the Board’s meeting on July 22. Dr. Small is a maternal-fetal medicine specialist within the field of obstetrics and gynecology at Duke University Medical Center.
“I am honored to join the Frontier Nursing University Board of Directors,” Dr. Small said. “I have long been impressed by FNU’s history of educating nurses and midwives. FNU’s work is more important than ever. I look forward to collaborating with the other members of the Board of Directors and FNU leadership to build upon FNU’s nationwide impact.”
Born in Durham, N.C., Dr. Small earned her bachelor’s degree from Brown University, then completed medical school at East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine. She completed an internal medicine residency at Yale University’s New Haven Medical Center and an OB-GYN residency at Temple University Hospital. She went on to perform a fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine at Yale University and has a master’s degree in public health from Yale.
Dr. Small, who joined Duke University Medical School in 2007, is currently an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Prior to returning to Durham, Dr. Small served in a variety of instructional positions, including assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Yale University’s School of Medicine and adjunct faculty and associate head of the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Rwanda.
In addition to her professorial endeavors, Dr. Small also sees patients at Duke Birthing Center in Durham, N.C. She is board certified by both the American Board of Obstetrics/Gynecology, Maternal & Fetal Medicine, and the American Board of Obstetrics/Gynecology, Obstetrics & Gynecology. Dr. Small, who speaks Portuguese and Spanish in addition to English, has a special interest in high-risk maternal medical conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, and preeclampsia.
“We are extremely excited to welcome Dr. Small to our Board of Directors,” said FNU President Dr. Susan Stone, DNSc, CNM, FACNM, FAAN. “Her extensive knowledge and experience in both education and maternal health is an ideal combination and she promises to have a significant impact on the future of FNU. We are honored that Dr. Small accepted our invitation to join the Board of Directors and are excited to begin working with her.”
As part of Frontier Nursing University’s Board of Directors, Dr. Small will help guide the university’s direction and decision making during a critical period as the university prepares to transition to its new campus in Versailles, Kentucky. All on-campus student activities are postponed until at least January 1, 2021, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The university, which has just begun work on its recently approved 2020-22 strategic plan, continues to place priority focus on both new and ongoing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Those initiatives focus on creating an equitable, welcoming environment that will enable the university to continue to become more diverse in all areas, including students, faculty, staff, and the Board of Directors.
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).