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 deliver quality health care to underserved and rural populations.
Frontier graduate Emily Levingston Luna, CNM, MSN, is making a significant impact on midwifery care in her home community of Las Cruces, New Mexico. As the founder of Vida Midwifery, she is dedicated to expanding access to quality maternal healthcare in the region. Luna earned her Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) with a Certified Nurse-Midwife (CNM) specialty from FNU in 2018.
Her journey into midwifery began long before attending FNU. After earning her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from New Mexico State University in 2009, Luna gained extensive experience working as an RN in hospital settings. Starting as a float pool nurse, she developed skills across multiple specialties, including medical-surgical, postpartum, pediatrics, and the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). After three years, she transitioned full-time to Labor and Delivery, where her passion for midwifery was solidified.
Luna said she dreamed of pursuing midwifery since her first experience with pregnancy and birth, which is what drove her to pursue nursing school with the eventual goal of becoming a Certified Nurse-Midwife.
“Midwifery stood out to me as a vocation that included many of the things I feel strongly about: bodily autonomy, trauma-informed care, and reproductive justice in particular,” she said. “I chose the CNM pathway to midwifery because I wanted to be able to offer the fullest scope of care possible.”
Luna said she was drawn to FNU’s program due to its rich history and accessible distance-learning model.
“I loved the history of the Frontier Nursing service and their work improving healthcare in rural communities,” she said. “The way FNU’s nurse-midwifery program was set up also just felt very accessible to me.”
In the summer of 2020, Luna launched Vida Midwifery as a home birth practice. By April 2023, the practice expanded into a group model with two additional midwifery professionals from the local community.
“We all had solo practices, and all agreed that we wanted to try to build something more sustainable, so we decided to try a practice model where we rotate through roles and have regular time off as well,” she said.
Vida Midwifery offers a wide range of services, including prenatal, birth, postpartum, newborn, gynecological, and contraceptive care, as well as lactation support. They are also preparing to introduce intrauterine insemination (IUI) services. Their service area extends about 1.5 hours from Las Cruces.
Recognizing the lack of obstetric providers in nearby Sierra County, Vida Midwifery partnered with the New Mexico Department of Health to launch a twice-monthly prenatal clinic at the Public Health Office. The practice is also committed to education, regularly precepting student midwives.
“I think midwives tread lightly and respectfully in some of the most significant and vulnerable experiences of our clients’ lives,” Luna said of her profession. “We’re extra mindful of the weight of that, and also we’re responsible for guarding safety and providing sound, evidence-based information and guidance. We take extra time and move a little more slowly in an effort to really get to know our clients and also in an effort to help them feel known and seen.”
Earlier this year, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced over $40 million in funding to enhance rural healthcare, with Vida Midwifery among the recipients. Through the Rural Healthcare Access Fund, they plan to establish the Vida Birth and Health Center, increase staff, expand capacity, and mentor more student midwives.
The new birth center will provide a centralized location for patients from rural communities while ensuring proximity to hospital services when needed. Luna said they also envision the center being a hub for community activities and support, offering classes and resources such as a clothing closet. The birth center is expected to be open late this year or early 2026.
Outside of her work with Vida Midwifery, Luna is involved with Border Area Midwives (BAM), which is a group of midwives and student midwives that live in and around Las Cruces, El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The group meets monthly, and holds an annual mini-conference, along with other training sessions. They also rely on each other for peer reviews and debriefing.
Outside of her career, Luna enjoys spending time with her husband, three children, and pets. She also enjoys traveling, a long walk-and-talk with a friend, playing music and writing.
Reflecting on her time at FNU, Luna credits the university with helping to shape her career.
“I had such a supportive experience as a student at FNU, and it was helpful to hear the experiences of faculty members,” she said. “I think the variety there really helped solidify for me that practicing midwifery could look lots of ways, and empowered me to really pursue what felt right for me. I loved Frontier Bound and Clinical Bound, and still keep in touch with some of the wonderful people I met those weeks.”
In addition to the education she has received, Luna said she is also thankful for the work of midwives who came before her and carved out a path forward, especially Indigenous and Grand Midwives, who she said were not treated with the enormous respect they deserved.
“I often think about how my work would not be possible without the vision and hard work of many others,” she said. “Like them, I hope to be part of building something that will outlast me.”
Thank you, Emily, for your dedication to midwifery, your commitment to expanding healthcare access in rural communities, and your passion for empowering future generations of midwives.
To read more graduate stories, visit the FNU graduate stories page.
Frontier Nursing University recently announced that two new members have been appointed to the university’s President’s Cabinet. Jenkins Michelle Lawhorn, DNP, CNM, RNC-OB, and Chris Turley, MS, BS, will serve on the President’s Cabinet throughout 2025.
The mission of Frontier’s Continuing Education Program is to create CE offerings, in collaboration with the community, that respond to the professional development needs of advanced practice nurses and midwives in the areas of scholarship, practice, entrepreneurship and service to work with all people, with an emphasis on rural and underserved communities.
In the world of healthcare, there are individuals who go beyond their job descriptions to make a lasting impact on their patients and the next generation of professionals. Deena Parsons, CNM, with TriHealth Associates in Ob-Gyn, is one such individual.
FNU has named Dr. Diane John, PhD, ARNP, FNP-BC, CNE, as the Interim Dean of Nursing in the wake of former Dean Dr. Joan Slager’s retirement. 
Dr. Michael Carter’s long history with Frontier Nursing University dates to 2003 when he joined what was then the Frontier Nursing Service Board of Governors. Dr. Carter has been a board member ever since and has served as the Board Chair since 2009. 
Dr. Sarah Carter was one of six women in her class when she earned her M.D. from the UAMS College of Medicine in1965. Board-certified in internal medicine and geriatrics, she devoted much of her career to working with the Veterans Affairs Health Care System. She was the Chief of Ambulatory Care and Chief of Staff at the Memphis VA Medical Center but also treated patients at VAs across the country.
Jean Fee was born in 1937 and grew up with her sister and brother on her family’s ranch in rural western Alberta, Canada. She rode six miles each way on horseback to attend the small high school established for the ranch children of the area. Upon finishing high school, she trained to qualify as a Registered Nurse in the Calgary General Hospital (CGH) nurse training 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).