The Amazing Benefits of Vitamin D with Beth Sanford
Dr. Beth Sanford, DNP, MSN, RN, ACN, CLC, PHN is a dynamic and accomplished nursing leader with nearly 30 years of experience in education, research, and clinical practice. She earned her BSN and MSN in Rural Health Nursing with a specialization in Nursing Education from the University of North Dakota and in 2022 completed her DNP in Public Health and Policy from Rasmussen University, where her focus was on vitamin D research. Driven by a desire to champion primary prevention, Beth obtained a post-graduate certificate in Applied Clinical Nutrition, which enabled her to advocate for increasing healthcare professional and the public’s awareness of vitamin D deficiency.
Beth's diverse career includes roles as a Hospice Nurse, Migrant Health Nurse, Public Health Nurse, Community Health Educator, and Nurse Manager in Long-Term Care and Memory Care. These experiences have shaped her deep commitment to serving vulnerable and underserved populations and have fueled her passion for primary prevention. She has also volunteered her time working with incarcerated and homeless teens in both the U.S. and Canada, as well as orphans in Mexico and rural communities in the Amazon.
Her global perspective was further enriched when she moved to China with her family in 2005, where she spent five years volunteering as a Nurse Consultant and teaching English. After returning to the U.S., Beth co-founded a non-profit in Afghanistan focused on empowering women, particularly widows, through micro-business initiatives. She also volunteered as a nurse advocate in a local refugee community and served as a parish nurse for five years before returning to nursing education as a full-time nursing faculty in 2015. Beth’s greatest joy in nursing education is watching her students shine.
A passionate educator and mentor, Beth cultivates a spirit of inquiry and lifelong learning in students and healthcare professionals alike. She serves as President on the Board of Directors for the North Dakota Nurses Association (NDNA), where she advocates for nursing recruitment and retention strategies and promotes evidence-based practice. Most recently, Dr. Sanford was instrumental advancing Concurrent Resolution 3014 during the 2025 North Dakota Legislative Session. This enacted resolution highlights the importance of addressing vitamin D deficiency from a primary health perspective, making North Dakota the second state in the nation (following Alaska) to have such a resolution. Her dedication to legislative advocacy led to successful collaboration with two nurse legislators, Senator Kristen Rohr and Representative Dr. Karen Rohr to pass SB2145, The Essential Caregivers Act, into law in North Dakota in 2021. In both 2023 and 2025, Dr. Sanford co-authored legislation for additional state-funded tuition and loan reimbursement for RNs and MSNs, respectively.
Outside of her professional work, Beth is an avid adventurer, traveler and outdoor enthusiast. She has explored numerous corners of the world, but her heart remains in the rugged beauty of western North Dakota, where she enjoys hiking in the Badlands, rock hounding, and sitting under the canvas of the northern lights. In her downtime, she enjoys sharing a good cup of tea, music, reading, listening to stories, and laughing with family and friends.
Episode Summary:
In this eye-opening episode, host Beth Quaas welcomes Dr. Beth Sanford, a seasoned nurse educator and passionate advocate for vitamin D awareness, to explore the critical role vitamin D plays in physical, cognitive, and emotional health. From personal stories to evidence-based research, Dr. Sanford shares powerful insights about how vitamin D deficiency affects not just the general population but especially nurses, night shift workers, students, and healthcare professionals.
You’ll learn why this “low-hanging fruit” is often overlooked in clinical care, how to assess your own risk, and what steps you can take to improve your health—and maybe even save lives.
What You'll Learn in This Episode:
- What vitamin D does in the body (and why it’s vital for nurses!)
- Common causes of deficiency (including medication use and sunscreen habits)
- How geographic location and skin tone impact vitamin D levels
- The connection between vitamin D deficiency and mental health, pregnancy, cognitive function, and cancer risk
- Tools and resources for both patients and clinicians
Resources & Links:
Connect with Dr. Beth Sanford on LinkedIn.
Visit Beth's website.
Dr. Beth Sanford touches on this topic in her podcast episode:
Subscribe, Rate, and Review Don't Eat Your Young!
Your support helps us continue bringing valuable conversations to the nursing community. If you know someone in healthcare who's making a significant impact, we want to hear about them! Whether it's a nurse, NP, CRNA, student, aide, manager, supervisor, or even a patient advocate driving positive change and inspiring others, we’d love to shine a spotlight on their work.
Nominate someone today by filling out this form.