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.
Cathy Fliris is a Frontier Nursing University (FNU) faculty member, preceptor and alumni. She provided medical care to the citizens of Niobrara County in Lusk, Wyoming, in the Rawhide Rural Health Clinic for over 12 years.
Before moving to Wyoming, Cathy lived for 24 years in the village of Tanana in Alaska. The village is home to native Athabascan Alaskans, and is situated in the middle of the state on the banks of the Yukon River. Being so far out in the wilderness, the only access is to fly or go by boat, snow machine or dog team. She explained that the locals only trusted newcomers who went away for vacation and then “came back,” which of course she did!
When Cathy was younger, she studied for her BSN in Seattle, with a federal National Health Service Corps (NHSC) scholarship that required that she work for two years in a an underserved area. She chose to work as an intern for six months in a hospital in Anchorage, Alaska, prior to being assigned to a small 20-bed hospital in Tanana. This is where she met her husband, a patient who came to the hospital after cutting his finger with an axe.
The man who would eventually become Cathy’s husband had established a federal wilderness homestead on the Tozitna River, situated northwest of Tanana. He had flown into Tanana, 120 miles west of Fairbanks and walked 40 miles into the wilderness to build a log cabin, trap, fish and mush dogs. Cathy joined him there after completing her two-year service, and they were married on a nearby frozen beaver pond.
The couple later moved back into Tanana while Cathy was pregnant with their second son. They developed and ran a dog sled tourism business, teaching people how to mush dogs and guiding them to their log cabin. Cathy worked part time as a nurse in an assisted living facility in Tanana; had a custom arctic clothing business, specializing in making parkas and mukluks in native-inspired designs with modern materials; and went to fish camp on the Yukon River every summer with their sons and up to 50 dogs to fish for king and chum salmon. In 2000, while still living in Tanana, Cathy was accepted into Frontier’s CFNP Class 5 to study for her MSN, and then applied for and received a second NHSC scholarship.
When Cathy graduated from FNU in 2003, her children were grown so she and her husband decided to relocate to Lusk, Wyoming, so that Cathy could complete her two-year payback service. The rural cattle ranching town of 1,500 people was a great move up in the civilized world for them, complete with two stoplights, a Subway and a yoga teacher!
Cathy worked in a primary care clinic associated with a 24-bed critical access hospital. With over 12 years of service there, she has been the most consistent resident provider. Cathy’s patients appreciated not only the continuity of care they received from her, but also that she lived and participated in the community.
In 2007, she turned her focus from long-term care, emergency room coverage and hospital admissions in addition to primary care, to primary care only. This enabled her to pursue her DNP from Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions; she graduated in 2010.
In addition to her practice, Cathy has been a part-time faculty member in the FNU DNP program since 2009 and precepted students in her clinic. She enjoys teaching students about the role of the nurse practitioner in the health care system.
“FNU students come well-prepared for clinical training,” said Cathy. “As an alumni and faculty member, I’m proud to say that they are some of my best students.”
This year, Cathy moved to a rural island 60 miles north of Seattle to be closer to her family, partly due to her husband’s recent death in a kayaking accident. She plans to continue teaching for FNU and looks forward to providing health care in a new rural community.
“Rural health care is challenging but rewarding professionally. I enjoy getting to know the individuals and their families,” said Cathy. “I also have a deeper understanding of the biopsychosocial nurse practitioner model of providing care to individuals and families within the context of their community.”
Cathy believes that the breadth of experience that nurse practitioners gain in rural practice can equip them with the experience, maturity and confidence to pursue their passions in health care. She looks forward to delivering consistent, engaged care in a new community, while building and reflecting on the experience she has gained throughout her life’s adventures.
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).