Dame Elizabeth Nneka Anionwu | |
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| Born | Elizabeth Mary Furlong (1947-07-02)2 July 1947 (age 78) Birmingham, England |
| Known for | Nurse, lecturer, administrator |
| Notable work | Dreams From My Mother (2021) |
| Children | Azuka Oforka (daughter) |
| Parents |
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| Awards | Order of Merit,Pride of Britain Awards Lifetime Achievement Award (2019) |
| Website | www |
Dame Elizabeth Nneka Anionwu (bornElizabeth Mary Furlong; 2 July 1947) is a British nurse, health care administrator, lecturer, and emeritus professor of Nursing at theUniversity of West London.
In 1979, Anionwu became the United Kingdom's firstsickle-cell andthalassemia nurse specialist, helping establish the Brent Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Counselling centre[1] with consultant haematologist Milica Brozovic. In 1998, by then a professor of nursing, Anionwu created theMary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice at theUniversity of West London. She holds theOrder of Merit, was appointed aDame Commander of the Order of the British Empire and is aFellow of theRoyal College of Nursing (RCN).[2] She retired in 2007, and in 2016 she published her memoirs,Mixed Blessings from a Cambridge Union.
Elizabeth Nneka Anionwu was born Elizabeth Mary Furlong inBirmingham,[3] to anIrish mother and aNigerian father. Her mother, Mary Maureen Furlong, was in her second year studying classics atNewnham College,Cambridge.[4] Her father,Lawrence Odiatu Victor Anionwu, was studying law, also at the University of Cambridge.[5]
Her upbringing had been heavily affected by moving between institutions and family. She spent just over two years living with her mother, a relationship that ended when her stepfather, who did not accept her and drank heavily, started to physically abuse her. She was placed in a Catholicchildren's home where she was cared for by nuns, including several years in the Nazareth House convent in Birmingham.[4][6]
Often harshly punished and humiliated for wetting the bed, she remembers being made to stand with a urine-soaked sheet over her head as a punishment for wetting the bed. In the book she recalls, that later in life when working as a health visitor, "I made sure to keep up-to-date with more humane treatments for bedwetting". Nonetheless, she grieved leaving the convent to go and live with her mother. Every period of relative stability in childhood ended in sudden collapse. Following an unsettled childhood she qualified as a nurse, then health visitor. Shortly before her 25th birthday she suddenly found her father: barrister and former Nigerian Ambassador to Italy and the Vatican, Lawrence Anionwu. She was to visit Nigeria frequently and later changed her surname to Anionwu.[4]
Anionwu has credited her father,Lawrence Anionwu, abarrister anddiplomat, as the first person to provide her with career advice. Anionwu has a daughter, the actress Azuka Oforka.[7]
Anionwu began her nursing career inspired by a nursing nun who cared for hereczema at the age of four.[8] At the age of 16, she left school with sevenO-levels and started to work as a school nurse assistant inWolverhampton. She continued with education to become a nurse, health visitor, and tutor. She travelled to the United States to study counselling forsickle-cell andthalassemia centres as courses were not then available in the UK. In 1979, she worked with Dr Milica Brozovic to create the first nurse-led UK sickle-cell and thalassemia screening and counselling centre inLondon Borough of Brent.[8] This was the first of over 30 centres in the UK using the Brent Centre as a model.
From 1990 to 1997, worked as alecturer at theInstitute of Child Health,University College London, and was later promoted tosenior lecturer in Community Genetic Counselling.[8] With the help of Professor Marcus Pembrey, Anionwu taught a course at University College London forNational Health Service (NHS) staff members who worked with communities affected or at risk ofsickle-cell disease,cystic fibrosis,Tay–Sachs disease andthalassaemia.
Anionwu was appointed thedean of the School of Adult Nursing Studies and Professor of Nursing atUniversity of West London. Here, she created theMary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice at the University of West London, retiring in 2007. In 2001, Anionwu, along with Professor Atkin, wroteThe Politics of Sickle Cell and Thalassemia. In 2003 she became a Trustee and subsequently vice-chairperson of the Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal and in 2005, she wrote,A Short History of Mary Seacole. Following the unveiling of thestatue atSt Thomas' Hospital in June 2016, she was appointed a Life Patron of the Mary Seacole Trust.
She chaired several projects for the NHS Sickle and Thalassaemia Screening Programme, including the development of "Caring for people with sickle cell disease and thalassaemia syndromes: A framework for nursing staff" that was accredited in 2010 by the Royal College of Nursing, and "Understanding the contribution of sickle cell and thalassaemia specialist nurses" (2012), funded through a grant from the Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity.[8]
Anionwu is also a Patron of other charities:
In 2016, she published the first edition of her memoir calledMixed Blessing from a Cambridge Union (ISBN 978-0-9955268-0-8).[9] In 2021, her updated memoir,Dreams From My Mother, was published by Seven Dials, an imprint of The Orion Publishing Group.[10][11] In her book, she reveals the many layers of her life, from a childhood marked by hidden truths to uncovering her father's identity, experiencing a political awakening, and emerging as a leader in Black health advocacy. She sheds light on the profound health disparities affecting ethnic communities, spanning issues from sickle cell disease to the inequalities exposed by theCOVID-19 pandemic.[12]
Anionwu was appointedCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the2001 Birthday Honours for her services to nursing.[13] In 2004 she was awarded theFellowship of the Royal College of Nursing (FRCN) for developing thesickle-cell andthalassemia counselling centre.[14] In 2007, following her retirement, she was appointedEmeritus Professor for Nursing at theUniversity of West London.[15]
In 2010 she was inducted into theNursing Times Nursing Hall of Fame for the dedication to the Development of Nurse-led Services.[1] She also received the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award onDivas of Colour. Anionwu was appointedDame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the2017 New Year Honours for services to nursing and the Mary Seacole Statue Appeal.[16] Anionwu was awarded a Fellowship of theQueen's Nursing Institute in October 2017.[17]
In 2019, in recognition of Anionwu's major contribution to nursing, research and campaigning, theUniversity of St Andrews conferred on her the degree of Doctor of Science,honoris causa.[18] Also in 2019 she was awarded an honorary doctorate fromBirmingham City University, in recognition of her major contribution to the nursing profession.[19]
At thePride of Britain Awards in October 2019, Anionwu received the Lifetime Achievement Award, "in recognition of her passion for nursing and dedication to reducing health inequalities",[20][21] the presentation being madeJanet Jackson.[22][23]
On 31 May 2020 Anionwu was the subject of an episode ofDesert Island Discs onBBC Radio 4.[24] She was on the list of the BBC's100 Women (BBC) announced later that year on 23 November.[25]
She was made a member of theOrder of Merit in 2022.[26]
In May 2023, she carried theSovereign's Orb in the Royal procession at theCoronation of Charles III and Camilla.[27]
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