At the heart of Frontier Nursing University is a talented 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 work with all people, with an emphasis on rural and underserved communities.
Frontier Nursing University graduate Dr. Marli Parobek, APRN, DNP, FNP, PMHNP, is using her education from FNU to make a lasting difference in the lives of her neighbors. After earning her Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) post-graduate certificate and later her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) from FNU, Dr. Parobek has continued to embody the university’s mission of serving communities through compassionate, accessible care as the owner of Precision Psychiatry in Vashon Island, Washington.
In recognition of her impactful work, Dr. Parobek recently received the 2025 State Award for Outstanding Contributions from the American Association of Nurse Practitioners for her work in Washington state. The award recognizes those who have made significant strides in advancing health care through practice, education, advocacy, research and leadership, and have demonstrated efforts to advance the image, profile and visibility of nurse practitioners. Dr. Parobek accepted the award during the 2025 AANP National Conference in San Diego, California in June.
Dr. Brooke A. Flinders with Dr. Marli Parobek in Vashon Island, Washington
Dr. Parobek credits FNU for instilling in her a deep understanding of what it means to give back, noting that the university’s online learning model allows students to remain rooted in their home communities, applying what they learn directly to the people they serve.
“Frontier keeps the dedication by keeping it small and personable,” she said.
Dr. Parobek’s practice is focused on medication treatment that is tailored to meet the specific mental health needs of patients. Through her practice, she is dedicated to delivering modern medical solutions with a practical application.
“I knew that there was such a need for mental health, and I wanted to venture into that as an entrepreneur,” she said. “It was explained to me once that we have these volumes of knowledge in our brain, and you can take the nurse out of the clinic, but you can’t take the clinic out of the nurse.”
Dr. Parobek said she finds caring for patients in a rural community especially rewarding
“I love being in a community where I’m serving my neighbors,” she said. “I see them at the grocery store, I see them at church, and that connection is what makes rural medicine in my eyes the most fulfilling. There’s no greater accomplishment than to have one of my current clients refer me to a family member, that they entrust me with someone that they love. That’s what I love about rural medicine: you are caring for the people that you know.”
In addition to running her own practice, Dr. Parobek leverages her expertise to mentor the next generation of healthcare professionals and advocate for health care policy in Washington State. She credits earning her DNP from Frontier Nursing University with equipping her for these leadership and advocacy roles.
“I feel so well-prepared when I’m in committee settings and I’m representing the island, or I’m at the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, or as I’m marketing my own business,” she said. “I feel a sense of pride and accomplishment because Frontier has such a good-quality program.”
We had the opportunity to visit Dr. Parobek during the Northwest leg of our Presidential Tour. Join us in the video below as we visit with her and other alumni in California and Oregon along the way:
Thank you, Marli, for exemplifying the excellence of FNU graduates by providing compassionate care for patients in your community and by helping shape the future of healthcare.
To read more graduate stories, visit the FNU Alumni stories page.
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).