When Frontier Nursing University (FNU) alumni Tayler Johnston, DNP, CNM, WHNP-BC answered the call to help underserved women, it led her from a small town in Tennessee all the way to the Caribbean.
Tayler graduated from CNEP Class 128 in 2017. She is now the Director of a non-profit outpatient clinic in rural Haiti, serving lower- to middle-class women and families. Respire Haiti’s Love+1 Medical Clinic is located in the small town of Gressier, Haiti, about 10 miles outside of Port-au-Prince.
As clinic director, Tayler oversees all maternal and women’s health-related programs at the clinic. Many women in the Gressier community have no prenatal care, and give birth at home, some unassisted. Some patients are also extremely poor, and wouldn’t have the option to seek medical care elsewhere. Tayler and her fellow nurses are working to provide more options to improve pregnancy and birth outcomes for the women in the community.
She made the decision to become a nurse-midwife while in nursing school. Tayler’s obstetrics/gynecology clinicals sparked initial interest in midwifery, but watching nurse-midwives deliver babies during her next clinical rotation sealed the deal for her.
“I immediately knew that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” she said. Meanwhile, she already knew she wanted to dedicate her life to improving outcomes for women and children in the most desperate circumstances.
Tayler pursued the Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner (WHNP) as well to increase her practice in primary care and gynecological issues. She moved to Haiti right after she achieved the WHNP.
“I wanted to be the best practitioner I can possibly be and provide the best care to my patients, as well as be the best employee and asset to the healthcare community,” she said.
She completed a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) from Haiti in late 2017 to further equip her for whatever primary care challenges she would face.
The choice to attend Frontier was two-fold: The top-ranked institution fit exactly what Tayler was looking for, and the distance education program allowed her to work full-time and avoid taking out a single student loan.
Though her education was online and in the midst of a full-time job, Tayler took full advantage of the Frontier community. Several of her former classmates have become good friends and resources.
“We often turn to each other for advice or with questions,” she said. “It’s so great to have that community and support system.”
Thank you, Tayler, for representing FNU in your crucial work with women and families in Haiti. We are proud to have you in the FNU community!
Frontier Nursing University (FNU) is thrilled to announce the 2018 Summer Term Circle of Caring Award winners. Congratulations to 
On October 20, 2018, a melting pot of over 800 newly-minted nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners from 47 states and three countries was charged with improving the landscape of maternity and family care. Each graduate that was 
The 2018 Couriers officially ended their time of service at Frontier Nursing University with one final weekend of celebration and ceremony from August 8-11 in Hyden, Ky. The three 
National Nurse Practitioner Week is November 11-18, and Frontier Nursing University is once again celebrating with its annual virtual event. 
This continuing nursing education activity was approved by the American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA), an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation and is approved 
By: Dr. Susan Stone, Frontier Nursing University President
With the above statistics in mind, it is more important than ever to develop and begin working toward attainable solutions. 
One of Frontier Nursing University’s (FNU) esteemed alumni, Dr. Holly Powell Kennedy, PhD, CNM, FACNM, FAAN, spoke at the 
In the commencement address, Dr. Kennedy spoke about how her experience as an intern and nurse practitioner with the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS) inspired her to become a nurse-midwife. She told stories about traveling to FNS for the first time in 1978, where she broadened her horizons by learning about rural health and the importance of establishing patient-provider relationships.
Frontier Nursing University (FNU) was proud to award 800 graduate degrees at the 2018 commencement ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 20. 
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).