At the heart of Frontier Nursing University is a talented and diverse community of faculty, students, alumni 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 Nursing University (FNU) alumna Mary Zimmerman is taking her skills as a nurse-midwife to places most wouldn’t dare to go. Mary graduated from FNU with … [Read more...]
Alumni Spotlight: Jennifer Stevens DrPHc, CNM, MS
Frontier Nursing University (FNU) alumna Jennifer Stevens DrPHc, CNM, MS uses her nurse-midwifery degree to help women across the world. Based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Jennifer is a midwife specialist for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Jennifer graduated in 2001 from Frontier’s CNEP (Class 28) and earned her MS in Midwifery at Philadelphia University. She worked for 10 years in a freestanding birth center before a stint with Midwives for Haiti (founded by a fellow FNU alumnus) … [Read more...]
Alumni Spotlight: Christa Salling, FNP, CLC
Frontier Nursing University (FNU) alumna Christa Salling, FNP, CLC credits her education for allowing her to enter a fulfilling career. As a Registered Nurse, Christa worked in a local hospital on various units and she soon found it wasn’t satisfying her professionally. She decided to expand her education and graduated with her Family Nurse Practitioner certification (Class 110) in 2015. With her advanced practice degree, Christa moved into a family practice residency clinic with St. … [Read more...]
Alumni spotlight: Tayler Johnston, DNP, CNM, WHNP-BC
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. … [Read more...]
Alumni Spotlight: Paul Havrilka III, NP-C
Frontier Nursing University (FNU) graduate Paul Havrilka III, NP-C uses his nursing education to improve primary care for a very small and underserved tribal population in Alaska. Paul, who graduated with his Family Nurse Practitioner (Class 94) in 2013, currently serves as a family nurse practitioner at Annette Island Service in Metlakatla, Alaska. For the past two years, he has helped provide primary care services for the people of Annette Island. The island is named a federal Indian … [Read more...]
Alumni Spotlight: Mary T. Bradish, CNM
Mary Theresa Bradish, CNM, a Frontier Nursing University (FNU) alumni, is a midwifery pioneer who worked for years to bring natural birthing options to women in north-central Illinois. She published her inspirational autobiographical memoir in 2016. Mary’s incredible story began as an obstetrics nurse. She was in the Cadet Nursing Corps during WWII before transitioning into maternity nursing in LaSalle County, Ill. Twenty-five years later, she realized her true calling was encouraging women … [Read more...]
Alumni Spotlight: Kristen Conroy, CNM
It took Kristen Conroy, CNM several years assisting births as an RN before she realized her true calling: nurse-midwifery. Kristen received her BSN in 1994 and was content raising her family and continuing her work as an RN. That is until her family relocated to Allen, TX and she discovered the Allen Birthing Center. Allen Birthing Center is a full scope midwife-owned free-standing birth center in the Dallas area. It specializes in Out-of-Hospital (OOH) births, including home and birthing … [Read more...]
Alumni Spotlight: Donna Bredenberg, APRN, FNP-BC
Donna Bredenberg, APRN, FNP-BC celebrates her roots as a native Appalachian and Frontier Nursing University (FNU) graduate in a role that serves an urban population of patients. Growing up just 20 minutes away from the American birthplace of midwifery and family nursing in Hyden, Ky., Donna left the Appalachian region for undergrad but returned to the area to attend Frontier for her MSN program, where she graduated in 2014. Now, Donna serves urban youth and adult patients as a pediatric oncology … [Read more...]
