Dr. Kerri Schuiling
Dr. Kerri Schuiling, PhD, NP emeritus, CNM (ret), FACNM, FAAN, was introduced to nursing at an early age. She was close to her maternal grandmother, who was a nurse and a social worker. Dr. Schuiling recalls her grandmother talking about caring for area families, particularly those living in poverty. She always spoke about the importance of supporting families and how by doing so it made the world a better place.
“As long as I can remember, I always wanted to be a nurse,” Dr. Schuiling said. “Of course, I also devoured the Cherry Ames series which helped fuel my desire to go into nursing. However, it was Life Magazine’s April 1965 issue: Drama of Life Before Birth that sparked my fascination with reproductive physiology which later evolved into a passion for caring for families during birth.”
Dr. Schuiling earned a baccalaureate degree from Northern Michigan University and began working in labor and delivery in a small hospital in Petoskey, Michigan. She continued to advance her education, becoming a family planning nurse practitioner in the 1970s, followed by a master’s degree in maternity nursing from Wayne State University in 1980 and a PhD in Nursing from the University of Michigan in 2003.
The occupation of nurse practitioner was still relatively new in the1 970s, in fact, at the time there wasn’t even a certification process for the role. Dr. Schuiling was just the third nurse practitioner to work in western Michigan. When the certification process was developed, Dr. Schuiling became one of the very early practitioners to take the examination and become a certified NP. Interestingly, although Dr. Schuiling enjoyed her role as a nurse practitioner, her ultimate goal was to become a nurse-midwife. While she had never had the opportunity of working with a nurse-midwife, she had read Wide Neighborhoods and knew this was her true professional calling. Unfortunately, many midwifery education programs were closing at the time due to the malpractice crisis, and Dr. Schuiling was forced to wait to continue her education.
In 1989 while browsing the Childbirth Graphics catalogue, she came across an ad for an at-distance midwifery education program. Dr. Schuiling says she immediately called the number provided in the ad. Fellow Frontier Nursing University Alumni Hall of Fame inductee Kitty Ernest was launching Frontier’s Community-based Nurse-midwifery Education Program (CNEP). When Dr. Schuiling called the number, Kitty herself picked up the phone.
Dr. Schuiling with Kitty Ernst
“I had no idea who Kitty Ernst was at the time, if you can believe that!” Dr. Schuiling said. “Kitty said I could get into the program if I could find a place to do the clinical portion of the program where I would be mentored by midwives. I was in an OBGYN practice with physicians at the time who were fully supportive of my becoming a nurse-midwife and continuing to work in the practice, and they recommended a women’s center in Battle Creek, Michigan, that employed midwives as a possibility for clinical education. When I contacted the Battle Creek clinic, the midwives, without hesitation, agreed to take me as a student during my clinical rotation. Frankly, they were absolutely floored when I told them Kitty Ernst was running the program. They kept asking me if I was sure it was really THE Kitty Ernst! I was admitted to the first class of CNEP and the rest is history.”
After graduating in the first CNEP class in 1991, Dr. Schuiling continued to work in the same OBGYN practice and at the same time, began teaching women’s gynecologic health for CNEP. “I had been asked to teach the gynecology content because of my expertise in practice and experience teaching the content for other universities. At the time, GYN was a relatively new core competency in midwifery education, therefore my background and experience helped in revising the course and assuring GYN standards were met.”
When Dr. Schuiling graduated from CNEP, Grand Rapids had no certified nursemidwives credentialed in the area hospitals, so she had to work with the hospital to not only become credentialed, but to assist in the development of credentialing criteria for midwives. She became the first credentialed nurse-midwife at was then known as Butterworth Hospital (now known as Corewell Health West Michigan) in Grand Rapids.
“A couple of years later I moved to Boulder, Colorado. I began practicing with a group of physicians who desired to offer midwifery services as part of their practice. However, Boulder Community Hospital, at that time, had no credentialed private practice midwives,” Dr. Schuiling said. “Once again, I worked with the hospital to develop guidelines to credential nurse-midwives. I am proud to say I did not become their first credentialed private practice midwife because they required me to cut and repair 12 episiotomies. After almost two years in practice I had yet to achieve that criterion. I made it clear I would not perform an episiotomy unless it was needed, and the majority of my patients did not need one.”
When Dr. Schuiling returned to Grand Rapids, she began practicing with Bronson Women’s Service in Kalamazoo, Michigan. There she joined fellow FNU Alumni Hall of Fame inductee and CNEP Class 1 graduate Dr. Joan Slager. While practicing at Bronson, Dr. Schuiling began a dedicated interest in research. The Bronson practice was unique in that the midwives partnered with perinatology, versus generalist OBGYNs. A study was developed to look at this type of partnership, data were collected and the outcomes demonstrated that a high level of care was received by women who were pregnant and considered ‘at risk’, and that the care was cost effective. Following this study, Dr. Schuiling entered the University of Michigan’s PhD in Nursing program, focusing on women’s health. Adding to her trailblazing legacy, she was in the first Women’s Health cohort offered by the university and completed her PhD in 2003.
Throughout her postgraduate years, Dr. Schuiling maintained her connection to Frontier, teaching physiology courses and eventually becoming the curriculum coordinator alongside another Class 1 graduate and fellow FNU Alumni Hall of Fame inductee Dr. Susan Stone. Dr. Schuiling first met Dr. Stone when they took their comprehensive exams together at Kitty Ernst’s farm in Perkiomenville, Pennsylvania, and later took their boards together at Frontier Nursing Service in Hyden, Kentucky. Not long after, Dr. Stone and Dr. Schuiling were both teaching for Frontier when Kitty urged them to take on administrative leadership of the school. Dr. Stone, with her expertise and experience in administration, became the President and Dr. Schuiling, due to her experience in academics became the Curriculum Coordinator. One of the initiatives that Dr. Stone and Dr. Schuiling helped spearhead was the advancement of Kitty’s distance education, community-based model.
“Kitty always had the idea of being truly at a distance,” Dr. Schuiling said. “The computer became more and more prevalent, and we began using it for more than just turning in assignments. We were working in Hyden, Kentucky, and had brilliant people that were working with us who knew the technology and were pushing boundaries that I will tell you large universities in big cities weren’t pushing. One of the really unique things about Frontier was that they wanted everyone to be creative, they wanted us to take a risk, to try something different.”
Outside of her work with Frontier, Dr. Schuiling was active in the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM), serving on numerous committees, chairing many of them. She also was the first ACNM Sr. Staff researcher assisting in developing an annual workforce survey, administering it online to all ACNM members and then analyzing data and reporting the outcomes. This work was aided by Dr. Judith Fullerton, CNM (ret) and Dr. Theresa Sipe, CNM who shared in co-authoring the many publications that resulted from this work.
“I’m very proud of the research we did for ACNM because it provided important information that the organization could use in obtaining funding, as well as for members to use in various ways, perhaps most importantly in negotiating salaries and developing practice guidelines,”
“One of the things that I’m most proud of is the publication of the book, Women’s Gynecological Health, now titled Gynecologic Healthcare,” Dr. Schuiling added. “I was co-teaching for Frontier with Dr. Francie Likis (FNU Class 20). The book came about because of our frustration with other books pathologizing women’s normal physiology. The more she and I talked, the more frustrated we became. We finally decided we were just going to write our own book.”
Dr. Schuiling and Dr. Likis collaborated on four editions of the book, which has twice received the ACNM Book of the Year Award and an American Journal of Nursing Award. It is often referred to by clinicians as the ‘Gold Standard’ for GYN care.
Today, Dr. Schuiling is an Emeritus Distinguished Professor at Northern Michigan University, most recently completing a term as President of the University following seven years as Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs.
Dr. Schuiling has received several awards for her work in academe and practice including the Award for Outstanding Scholarship, Distinguished Professor, ACNM’s Kitty Ernst award for innovative, creative endeavors in midwifery and women’s health, and the Dorthea Lang Pioneer Award from the ACNM Foundation. In 2013, she was named one of the Esteemed Women of Michigan for making extraordinary contributions through personal, volunteer and professional avenues to improve the community and inspire others in the state of Michigan. In 2019 she was a Michigan State Crain’s Notable Women in Education Leadership Awardee, and in 2023 she was honored by Marquette’s local Zonta International chapter for her dedication and work to supporting women’s rights, advocating for equality, education and support of children and families. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, considered one of nursing’s highest honors.
Despite all of her accomplishments as a practitioner, educator, author, and current Vice Chair of the FNU Board, Dr. Schuiling was surprised when she received the news of her Alumni Hall of Fame induction.
“I was gob smacked,” she said. “I was totally taken by surprise. I am absolutely thrilled. It’s one of the most significant honors I have received. There are no words to express how absolutely flattered and humbled and excited I am. It’s the perfect culmination of an absolutely wonderful career.”
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).