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 that are focused on the mission of educating nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners to deliver quality health care to underserved and rural populations.
Vicki Burslem, MSN, CNM, APRN, CNE(cl), FACNM
Frontier Nursing University (FNU) is proud to recognize faculty member Vicki Burslem, MSN, CNM, APRN, CNE(cl), FACNM, who is one of the recipients of the 2021 Fall Term Circle of Caring Award.
Burslem’s ties to FNU go back to the late 1980’s, when she served as a member of Frontier’s initial Community-Based Nurse-Midwifery Education Program (CNEP). Serving on the faculty from 1989 to 1996, Victoria helped develop curricula and taught early nurse-midwifery classes during her initial time at FNU.
“I was thankful to be a part of something that revolutionized midwifery education and have been delighted to see its growth through the years, expanding into the development of other strong programs for family nursing, women’s health, and psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner APRN tracks,” she said.
In fact, Burslem’s initial inspiration to pursue a career as a nurse-midwife came from Elsie Meier Wilson, a nurse-midwife with the Frontier Nursing Service. Wilson spoke at one of Burslem’s classes while she was earning her bachelor’s degree at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
“I was initially interested in pursuing a career in psychiatric nursing but when I heard her speak, it resonated with my desire to care for the physical as well as the emotional and psychological needs of those I would be caring for as a nurse,” she said. “The ability to provide physical and emotional support for patients during a major life transition appealed to me, and I saw it as a time when people are more open to healing, growth, and change.”
Burslem has worked as a Certified Nurse-Midwife (CNM) for 45 years, working in clinical practice for over 35 years, providing midwifery care in a variety of roles and settings. Early in her career, she owned a private midwifery practice with a CNM partner. Later, she was the clinical practice manager for many years at a large Obstetrics & Gynecology practice in Atlanta, Georgia, which employed 10 CNMs and provided care in both clinic and private settings.
Over the years, Burslem has enjoyed the opportunity to practice in two university teaching hospitals, a freestanding birth center, and a community hospital with an ongoing commitment to providing evidence-based care for underserved individuals whatever the setting. Teaching nurse-midwifery and midwifery students has also been threaded throughout her career. In addition to her work at FNU, she taught at the Midwifery Institute at Philadelphia University (now known as Thomas Jefferson University) part-time for four years and has served as a clinical preceptor for nurse-midwifery students from eight different midwifery programs. Coming full circle, Burslem was delighted when the opportunity opened up for a return to FNU in 2015 where she now serves as a Clinical Bound faculty member.
“I am passionate about working at FNU, helping to instruct the next generation of nurse-midwives so they are well-prepared to provide evidence-based care upon graduation with the knowledge, clinical competency, and wisdom to care for patients holistically, enabled as vigilant guardians of the physiologic while confident in their ability to identify and manage emergent situations when they arise,” she said.
Burslem has been recognized through several awards and distinctions over the years. She became an American College of Nurse-Midwives Fellow and inducted as a member of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing in 2014; received the Dorothea M. Lang Pioneer Award from the the American College of Nurse-Midwives Foundation in 2013; won Frontier’s CNEP Pioneer Award in 1992 and won the Tennessee Nurse in Action Award from the Tennessee Nurses Association in 1982. Burslem is active in her professional community, currently serving as chair of ACNM’s Continuing Education Committee and president of ACNM’s Kentucky Affiliate.
As a recipient of the Circle of Caring Award, Burslem said she believes FNU’s Culture of Caring is more than just a slogan, and values the university’s goal of fostering a positive, anti-racist environment of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“It is a philosophy that is threaded throughout the inner workings of the university community and its approach to decision-making,” she said. “I see evidence of the school’s commitment to this culture in written and verbal communication, and to the honor and value I see expressed in interactions with members in every part of the organization. This commitment makes me proud every day to play a small role in achieving Frontier’s goal of educating outstanding nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners who share the vision in particular of caring for rural and underserved populations.”
Burslem lives outside of Lexington, Ky., with her husband, Rick, who she has been married to for 40 years. They have three children and three grandchildren.
Thank you, Vicki, for the years of dedication you’ve put into the nurse-midwifery profession and for setting an exceptional example for the FNU community!
If you know an FNU staff or faculty member that goes above and beyond, nominate them now for the Circle of Caring Award!
Frontier Nursing University
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National Midwifery Week
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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).
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