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 who are focused on the mission of educating nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners to deliver quality healthcare to underserved and rural populations.
Though she has a well-established career in nursing with an extensive educational background and several formal recognitions for her work, Dr. Torica Fuller, DNP, MSN, FNP-BC, FNP-BC, CDP, CGRN, CPN, NRCME, of Raeford, North Carolina, is consistently looking for ways to gain more knowledge in order to better serve her patients. That’s why she is currently pursuing her Post-Graduate Certificate in Women’s Health Care from Frontier Nursing University (FNU).
Dr. Fuller works as a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) with the Cumberland County Department of Public Health in Fayetteville, North Carolina, serves as a clinical assistant professor with East Carolina University and as an adjunct professor with Fayetteville State University. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from East Carolina University; her Master’s and Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) certification from Indiana Wesleyan University and her DNP from East Carolina University.
Serving uninsured and underinsured pediatric and adult patients, Dr. Fuller has worked as an FNP in public health for the past seven years. As an advanced provider, she diagnoses and treats communicable diseases in the community with the goal to eradicate the disease as well as improve patient outcomes.
“We are the access to care for those who otherwise would not be able to receive healthcare due to cost or other social determinants of health,” she said.
Recently, Dr. Fuller helped to change the title of all North Carolina-based Nurse Practitioners, Certified Nurse-Midwives, and Physician Assistants who work in public health. The title was changed from Physician Extender to Advanced Practice Provider (APP) for the entire state of North Carolina.
Dr. Fuller was also named the founder and co-chair of the APP section of the North Carolina Public Health Association, and was recently named Ms. Norwayne Alumni 2022.
A Focus on Women’s Health
Set to earn her Post-Graduate Certificate in 2023, Dr. Fuller said her decision to further her education was influenced by her passion for women’s health.
“I have worked in women’s health for the past seven years and enjoy working in this speciality,” she said. “The FNP degree provided little studies regarding this topic, and I wanted to gain more knowledge in women’s health to better care for my patients.”
So far, Dr. Fuller said the most interesting course she has taken at FNU is Care in Normal Pregnancy.
“I was able to learn a lot and at the end of the course, I felt comfortable caring for a pregnant patient,” she said.
“Everyone is very supportive at FNU and every person that I have been in contact with has made me feel that they all want me to achieve my goal of becoming a Women’s Health Care NP.”
– Dr. Torica Fuller, DNP, MSN, FNP-BC, FNP-BC, CDP, CGRN, CPN, NRCME, FNU Student
Dr. Fuller recently started her clinical practicum, with one of the sites being a busy private OB-GYN that typically sees over 60 patients a day.
“I am able to obtain a lot of experience there with my preceptor,” she said.
Dr. Fuller said she chose FNU due to the flexibility and support afforded to students.
“I chose Frontier because of its focus on graduate nursing and the ability to obtain a Post-Graduate Certificate online. Also, I was intrigued with taking didactic courses and then focusing on the clinical courses,” she said. “Everyone is very supportive at FNU and every person that I have been in contact with has made me feel that they all want me to achieve my goal of becoming a Women’s Health Care NP.”
Outside of her work and studies, Dr. Fuller enjoys spending time with her husband, traveling and running half-marathons.
Thank you, Torica, for choosing FNU in your path to becoming a Women’s Health Care NP and for dedicating yourself to underserved patients in your community. We are excited to add Dr. Fuller to FNU’s faculty this April as the Clinical Transitions Coordinator for our FNP program.
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).
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