Elizabeth Anionwu

Elizabeth Anionwu is a British nurse, academic and health researcher, now emeritus professor of nursing at the University of West London, whose career has focused on genetic blood disorders and health inequality. In 1979 she became the United Kingdom's first sickle-cell and thalassaemia nurse specialist, co-founding the Brent Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Counselling Centre, a model that led to the creation of more than thirty similar centres across the country. She later founded the Mary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice at the University of West London in 1998 and served as dean of the School of Adult Nursing Studies, and her wider work has examined health disparities affecting ethnic minority communities, including inequalities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. She holds the Order of Merit and is a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of her contributions to nursing and public health.