Dr. Vicky Stone-Gale, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, FAANP is a family nurse practitioner (FNP) and assistant professor at Frontier Nursing University (FNU). With over 34 years of nursing experience under her belt, and 28 of those years as an NP, Vicky continues to serve patients and pave the way for future nurse practitioners (NPs) in Florida.
When Vicky first became an NP, a mentor helped guide her through the legislative process. She immensely enjoyed it and witnessed many changes as a result, inspiring her to continue to advocate for current and future nurse practitioners over the past 28 years. One of her biggest victories to date came in 2017, after almost 24 years of work, when Florida finally passed House Bill 423, The Barbara Lumpkin Controlled Substance Act, named after her mentor, allowing NPs to prescribe controlled substances. To implement this new bill, Vicky was asked by the Board of Nursing to sit on a committee and develop the protocol for the controlled substances.
According to Vicky, nurses need to be involved with the legislation side of healthcare because it directly impacts their practice. “Things can change very quickly when legislators get their hands on something, and then they can alter our practice without us even knowing,” she said.
For several years, health care experts have been concerned about an impending shortage of physicians. In 2014, the implementation of the Affordable Care Act expanded the availability of health insurance coverage to many patients who previously had no coverage, creating a shortage of physicians as demand for healthcare markedly rose. Many people suggested that NPs could present a solution, and Vicky was part of the team who worked on making it a reality. With the passing of House Bill 607 on March 10, 2020, qualified NPs can now obtain independent practice status in Florida! The bill goes into effect on July 1st. Vicky is confident that NPs will help combat the physician shortage and reduce healthcare costs because their reimbursement is lower than a physician’s, but more importantly, it will also provide access to care to the citizens of Florida.
Vicky has been in Tallahassee meeting with lobbyists and working on bills many times over the years. However, she recently got to see a new side of the legislative process when she was asked to be the Nurse Practitioner of the Day at the 2020 Florida Legislative Session. She was introduced by the Speaker in the morning opening session and saw patients at the clinic for the remainder of the day. This marked the first time the state of Florida asked an NP and not a physician to be present for this day.
Vicky has been a member of the Frontier community since 2014. In addition to working as an Assistant Professor at Frontier as Course Coordinator for the Primary Care I management course, she also practices in primary care in Plantation, FL. She is the President of the South Florida Council of Advanced Practice Nurses and the Region 4 Director for the Florida Nurse Practitioner Network. These positions allow her to share her love for advocacy and legislation with newer NPs in the profession. She is also active with the Florida Board of Nursing Probable Cause Panel.
Her favorite things about being part of the FNU team are the support she gets from her faculty colleagues and the administration, and the interactions she is able to have with her students. She also enjoys the freedom to develop coursework and use different teaching methods that will benefit the students.
“I have been with FNU for six years and I really love the environment,” she said. “I think that the faculty at Frontier are amazing and I have learned so much from them. I am glad that we have the ability to work together on projects, within committees, and that we can work as a team to make the university the best it can be for our students. The administration is very supportive and it’s one of the best places I’ve ever worked”.
Thank you, Vicky, for serving your students at FNU, your patients in Florida and for championing for future nurse practitioners.
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).