With the maternal mortality rate on the rise in the United States, it’s important to raise awareness at the community level and discuss possible solutions. Dr. Susan Stone, President Emerita, Distinguished Chair of Midwifery and Nursing at Frontier Nursing University, recently facilitated a conversation on this topic in Versailles, Ky., home to FNU’s campus, at the Woodford County Chamber of Commerce’s Health + Wellness Roundtable.
Dr. Francis Aho receives 2024 Distinguished Service to Society Award
Sometimes, we wind up exactly where we are meant to be in life. For Dr. Francis Aho, DNP (Class 37), CNM, that place has been with Africa Mission Services (AMS) in Kenya since 2008. On June 21, 2024, she plans to open the Africa Mission Services Women’s Health Center, an 11,000-square-foot building that will include both inpatient and outpatient services, as well as a labor and delivery wing. The birth center will provide an extremely rural and underserved population with vital services that were previously administered as a small component of the AMS Community Health Clinic, which serves the Maasai tribe of the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.
2024 Lifetime Service Award Recipient Janice Bovée
You could say that Janice Bovée, MSN, CNM (Class 22), was born to be a nurse. After all, when she was just four years old, she was drawing pictures of nurses, doctors, pregnant women, and babies. “I would dress up with a paper white nurse cap, a bathrobe worn backward as a hospital gown, collect all my dolls in my imaginary nursery, and look at my pediatrician and his nurse with deep respect and seriousness when my siblings or I had office visits,” Bovée said. Born in Mesa, Arizona, Bovée attended St. Mary’s High School in downtown Phoenix. Her interest in nursing seemingly never waned.
Frontier Nursing University Releases Maternal Health Documentary
Frontier Nursing University has produced a documentary about maternal health care and the role of nurse-midwives. The documentary Nurse-Midwives: Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis will premiere on August 15 at 6 p.m. at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville. “The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate among wealthy nations, and 2022 data from the CDC shows that over 80% of pregnancy-related deaths in the U. S. from 2017-2019 were preventable by providing better care,” said FNU President Dr. Susan Stone, DNSc, CNM, FACNM, FAAN. “This documentary tells the story of how distance education paved the way to addressing this crisis by educating more nurse-midwives who play a crucial role in reducing maternal mortality.”
CE Courses Available Now from FNU
Frontier Nursing University is proud to be accredited for nursing continuing professional development by ANCC. As an ANCC NCPD-accredited organization, FNU has proven that our organization is committed to the growth of our nurses through high-quality continuing professional development. We offer a variety of continuing education courses for advanced practice nurses and midwives as well as other healthcare providers. CE course topics range from mental health to cultural safety to caring for veterans.
Frontier Nursing University to Host Maternal Mortality Conference
Frontier Nursing University and the Campion Fund announced plans for a conference focused on the nation’s maternal mortality crisis. “Reducing Maternal Mortality: Strategies That Work!” will be held on Thursday, September 19, on the FNU campus in Versailles, Kentucky. Capacity is limited to 100 spots for the in-person conference, with an additional 300 spots available for online attendees. All proposals for abstracts or posters should be submitted online at frontier-stg.mystagingwebsite.com/mmc by May 31.
Student Spotlight: Andrea Nikodim connects with other nurse-midwives through FNU mentoring program
FNU student Andrea Nikodim BSN, RN, is dedicated to making a profound impact in the healthcare field through her work with underserved patients. Currently pursuing her MSN in Nurse-Midwifery, she is set to graduate in 2025. Last October, Nikodim attended the 2023 AABC Birth Institute as part of FNU’s Professional Organizational Mentoring Program (POMP). POMP matches FNU faculty with nurse practitioner and nurse-midwifery students from underrepresented groups to provide support and mentorship.
Alumni Spotlight: Connie Smith leads care for sexual abuse survivors in Democratic Republic of the Congo
April is National Sexual Assault Awareness Month, a time for advocates, survivors, their loved ones and the community to come together to talk openly about sexual violence to support survivors, increase knowledge and awareness and identify strategies and resources to prevent sexual violence. It also provides an opportunity to highlight the remarkable efforts of those who work with survivors of sexual assault, such as Frontier Nursing University alumnus Connie Smith. Graduating from FNU in 1999 with a Post-Graduate Certificate in Nurse-Midwifery, Smith’s trajectory led her to become the Coordinator of Survivors of Sexual Violence at Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, the capital of the Sud-Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
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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).