Joan Slager

Slager was born in 1958.^[1] She earned a B.S.N. from Nazareth College in 1980.^[2] She completed a certificate in nurse midwifery via the nurse-midwifery education program at Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing in 1991.^[3][2] Slager received a M.S.N. from Case Western Reserve University in 1993.^[3][4] She earned a doctorate in nursing practice from Oakland University in 2008.^[4][5] Her dissertation was titled, Investigating the Relationship of Postpartum Depression and Body Image Perception.^[1] Her doctoral advisors were Barbara E. Harrison and Kerri D. Schuiling.^[1]

Slager is a certified nurse-midwife.^[3][5] In 1993, she helped establish the Bronson Women's Service in Kalamazoo, Michigan.^[6] She became its director of practice in 1995 where she practiced midwifery for 21 years.^[3][5][6] Slager is a clinical coder who has expertise in medical billing.^[6] In 2007, she was named a fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives.^[6] At Frontier Nursing University (FNU), Slager was the program director of the doctor of nursing practice.^[4] She later served as the interim dean of nursing.^[4] An associate professor of nursing, she assumed the role of dean of nursing in March 2018.^[3][5] In 2020, Slager was inducted as a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.^[3]