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.
Heather Figi and FNU Dean for Inclusive Excellence and Student Success Dr. Paula Alexander-Delpech at the APNA National Conference
For FNU student Heather Figi, RN, BSN, life is about fulfilling two principles: “we are here to do great things with the gift of our lives” and “we are here to serve others.”
These beliefs empowered her to resume her education in 2011 with the aim of becoming a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. On track to graduate this year, Figi is currently pursuing her MSN in the Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program at FNU. Drawing from her rich background in music and education, Figi intends to integrate these experiences with her healthcare education. She said she seeks to embody the essence of psychiatry, derived from its Greek roots, where “psukhē” denotes soul or mind, and “iatreia” signifies healing.
“With the education I am receiving from Frontier Nursing University, I plan to merge my background in the arts with healing to offer holistic, whole-person psychiatric care,” she said.
A resident of Janesville, Wisconsin, Figi currently serves as a psychiatric RN, primarily providing care for underserved populations. In her work, she seeks to offer dignity to patients while assessing and addressing unmet medical needs such as dental needs, wounds and injuries. She said many of her patients receive inpatient care at the area psychiatric hospital, and are in the acute phase of schizophrenia. Many of her patients also have substance use disorder and lack of housing.
In pursuing her degree at FNU, Figi said she seeks to alter perspectives, advocating for the brain to be regarded as neutrally as any other organ, thereby diminishing the stigma surrounding mental health. She said her favorite subject she has studied at FNU thus far has been psychopharmacology due to the way in which instructors weave together the brain with biological mechanisms and symptomatology.
APNA National Conference
Figi said FNU has offered the structure and flexibility to allow her to reach her goals.
“I feel that through the structure of this program, FNU honors nursing professionals by accommodating them for individualized plans that allow for life to happen, trajectories to change and lots of personal guidance along the way,” she said.
Figi said FNU has also been a catalyst for professional development, particularly through the Professional Organizational Mentoring Program (POMP), which matches FNU faculty with nurse practitioner and nurse-midwifery students from underrepresented groups to provide support and mentorship. The program allows students to join a professional organization in their field and gives them the opportunity to attend a professional conference with their mentors. Figi attended the APNA National Conference with Dr. Paula Alexander-Delpech.
“I deeply valued attending the national conference, connecting with one of the stunning faculty members here at FNU, and getting to pick her brain, have fun and share some dessert,” she said. “I had several degrees before coming to FNU and have never felt as supported as I have with the POMP opportunity.”
When she is not at work or pursuing coursework at FNU, Figi enjoys taking walks, pursuing HIIT and capoeira exercise, singing, drawing and spending time with her nephews and niece.
Thank you, Heather, for your work with underserved populations and for your ongoing commitment to expanding your impact through education at FNU.
Learn more about advanced nursing degrees and specialties at Frontier Nursing University, including our Women’s Health Care Nurse Practitioner Program. Subscribe to our blog for the latest news and events at FNU and to get inspired with stories featuring our alumni, students, faculty and staff!
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).