clinical directors, Dr. Irma Jordan and Dr. Jane Houston. Our team at Frontier Nursing University (FNU) wants you to get to know them even better with this Q & A: Q – Where did your passion for family practice begin?
Dr. Jordan- I think my interest was cultivated first to become an advanced practice nurse and then deciding on the population I wanted to care for. I love the ability to see my patients from newborn to the grandparents!
Dr. Houston- It all began in childhood, my mom breastfed all seven of us. She even exclusively breastfed when my twin and I were born in the 60s in Scotland. She was called a “stupid woman” for not offering formula, and every doctor in the maternity hospital came to see her because they couldn’t believe it was possible.
Q – What do you enjoy most about your career?
Dr. Jordan- Having been a nurse for a very long time, it is difficult to pick one thing! When I was exclusively in clinical practice it was the patient interaction I was able to develop. Now, I think the same is true with students. I enjoy getting to know students and helping them get to their goal of becoming an advanced practice nurse.
Dr. Houston- The diversity of families that midwives and women’s health NPs care for, with everyone striving for the same goal- healthy moms and babies- it is fantastic!
Q – What do you enjoy most about working with students?
Dr. Jordan- The learning that occurs! It is amazing to see students when they come to Frontier Bound (scared to death!) and then return for Clinical Bound (much more confident in their knowledge) and then with graduation! This is truly a fantastic transformation to be part of!
Dr. Houston- Their intellectual abilities and constant challenges to be the best they can be. The care they bring to their work and their calling as midwives and women’s health NPs.
Q – What is a typical day at work for you?
Dr. Jordan- It depends. If I am working in my faculty role it consists of responding to student requests/issues and these vary daily. Identifying sites for clinical rotations is one of the most challenging things students face and I, along with the RCFs (Regional Clinical Faculty), try to facilitate this as much as possible. Since I am also a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, I practice in a crisis stabilization unit and this is never the same!
Dr. Houston- As above, there is no typical day for any midwife including me. I am busy at the moment learning all I can about my new role and doing the job to the best of my ability. I am aiming to be back in limited midwifery practice in early 2016 as I really miss the challenges of caring for women and babies.
Q – What are your hobbies outside of FNU?
Dr. Jordan-I love being outside and it is a good thing as I have 10 grandchildren under the age of 9! I also love traveling, which is why my role at FNU is a perfect fit!
Dr. Houston- Hobbies- watching most sports, especially American football, basketball and of course my favorite, the beautiful game of futbol. I read A LOT especially memoirs and non-fiction- I really enjoyed learning more about the British midwives in “Wide Neighborhoods”. My top hobby is playing with our furry friend, Annie the Wonder Dog- she is an Australian Cattle Dog and is very good at the sport of agility and doing lots of tricks. I sometimes think she is smarter than me.
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).