Jen Garate, CNM (Class 104), was recently named the first midwifery manager at Banner Health, a healthcare system based in Arizona that operates 33 hospitals across six states. She is tasked with building the midwifery practice to be modeled at other Banner sites.
This undertaking begs the question: where does she find the time to be a preceptor, and why does she do it? Jen graciously provided the answers below.
Where are you from originally and when did you become interested in a career in healthcare?
Arizona, born and raised. I knew I wanted to be in healthcare since early childhood. My mom kept a paper from elementary school where I said I wanted to be a baby doctor when I grew up.
How did you hear about Frontier and what prompted you to come to Frontier?
When I decided to become a midwife, I did my research. Frontier stood out as the leader in midwifery education, flexibility, and reputation for preparing their students for independent practice on day one.
In 2025, a total of 1,475 FNU students worked with 4,208 preceptors, including 841 FNU alumni.
Please describe your experience at Frontier.
While continuing to work full time as an L&D charge nurse, I attended FNU full time as well. My time with Frontier was far from easy. We lost loved ones, got married, and toured Europe for our honeymoon, all while keeping on track with the flexible FNU schedule.
Please describe your work history and current practice.
I knew the women being served in my community needed more options and support. I opened a private practice the day after I graduated in the same city I was born. I grew that practice from literally zero patients to the largest OB practice in our county. I was voted #1 medical provider. I consistently did the most births almost every month for the last two years I was in practice. This was a blessing and a curse: I had grown to a size not manageable by one CNM. At the time I was looking into my options, a midwife from a neighboring FQHC (Federally Qualified Health Center) asked if I would be interested in opening their newest clinic. I felt this was a sign and joined the FQHC, closing my practice just after five years, but bringing 100% of my current patients with me to the new clinic, over an hour away. I started at a new clinic, again with no patients, staff, or supplies. Over the course of the next six years, I grew that clinic to an efficient, evidence-based, highly sought out women’s health center. Most recently, I joined Banner Health as their first midwife manager, building their flagship midwifery service line. The plan is to grow this program and then repeat this success in Banner Health locations across the U.S.
How many students have you precepted?
I have not kept track. I took my first break from being a preceptor for nine months last year. Other than that small break, I have had a student almost every week since my second year of practice.
The average Frontier student needs three clinical sites to complete all required experiences. The need is great, and the competition for clinical sites is heavy.
What prompted you to become a preceptor?
If we don’t teach the next generation, how will they ever become midwives?
What do you find rewarding about precepting?
Knowing that what I teach today will help mold their practice for years after they’ve graduated and moved on.
What did you not know about precepting until you started doing it? What concerns or doubts did you have?
It takes a lot of time, patience, and inner reflection and growth. It took a while before I felt “worthy” to teach someone else. Imposter syndrome is a hard battle to win.
What would you say to others who are unsure about precepting?
Do it. You had one. Return the favor, pass it forward.
What are your current and future career goals?
Building a midwifery service line that will be the foundation for midwifery practices across the country!
Why Become a Preceptor
- Help expand access to quality, compassionate care to diverse, rural, and underserved populations.
- Earn an honorarium based on the percentage of time spent precepting students.
- Gain access to free CEUs, including sessions on pharmacology and other current topics.
- Promote your profession through the education and guidance of your future peers.
- Gain access to the latest clinical guidelines to stay current in practice.
- Earn a 10% discount on all non-matriculating courses at FNU.
“The student who was placed with me was very knowledgeable. I felt that she had adequate training prior to her clinical rotation with me. She was kind, compassionate, developed rapport, and was eager to learn.”
This is a story from the digital Frontier Nursing University Quarterly Bulletin • Winter 2026
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).