October is Black History Month and with that in mind we have chosen Elizabeth Anionwu as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

Elizabeth was inspired to become a nurse at the young age of four because, whilst a ‘wonderful nursing nun’ treated her childhood eczema in an expert and sensitive manner.

Elizabeth has put in a substantial amount of her life into her work as a nurse, health visitor and tutor working with black and minority ethnic communities in London and in 1979 helped to establish the first nurse-led UK Sickle & Thalassaemia Screening and Counselling Centre. She has chaired several projects for the NHS Sickle and Thalassaemia Screening Programme and in 2004 she was presented with the Royal College of Nursing Fellowship (FRCN) for her work in the development of nurse-led sickle cell and thalassaemia counselling services and education and leadership in transcultural nursing.

In 1988 she was awarded a PhD from the Institute of Education, University College London and from 1990-1997 she worked at the Institute of Child Health, UCL as a Lecturer then Senior Lecturer in Community Genetic Counselling. She has written extensively and is a co-author of the book ‘The Politics of Sickle Cell & Thalassaemia’ published in 2001. 

In 1997 Elizabeth was appointed as Dean of the School of Adult Nursing and Professor of Nursing at the University of West London and in 1999 she established and was Head of the Mary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice until her retirement in 2007.  The university then honoured her with the award of Emeritus Professor of Nursing. In 2001 she was awarded a CBE for services to nursing.

Elizabeth was vice-chairperson of the Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal from its launch in November 2003. The statue was unveiled in the grounds of St Thomas’ Hospital in June 2016 and Elizabeth is now a Life Patron of the new charity, the Mary Seacole Trust.

She was honoured with a Damehood in the 2017 for her services to nursing and the Mary Seacole Statue Appeal. The Queen’s Nursing Institute awarded her a Fellowship (FQNI) in October 2017.  In July 2018, as part of the celebrations for the 70th Anniversary of the National Health Service, Elizabeth was included in the list of the 70 most influential nurses and midwives in the history of the NHS.

She is a Patron of the Sickle Cell Society, the Nigerian Nurses Charitable Association (UK) and the Sickle & Thalassaemia Association of Nurses, Midwives & Associated Professionals (STANMAP).

To find out more about Elizabeth see here http://www.elizabethanionwu.co.uk/about-me/ To find out more about Black History Month see here https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/