Professor Dame Elizabeth Nneka Anionwu

Professor Dame Elizabeth Nneka Anionwu is an Emeritus Professor of Nursing at the University of West London.  In 1979 she became the first ever UK sickle cell/thalassaemia nurse counsellor, based in Brent.  She is a Patron of the Sickle Cell Society and is a Life Patron of the Mary Seacole Trust.

She was awarded a Damehood in 2017 for services to nursing & the Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal and in November 2022 was awarded the Order of Merit.

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.  In 2020 she was included in the top 100 Greatest Black Britons 100 Great Black Britons 

In November 2020 she was included in the BBC 100 Women 2020 list BBC 100 Women 2020: Who is on the list this year? - BBC News and in June 2020 was a guest on Desert Island Discs Desert Island Discs - Professor Dame Elizabeth Anionwu, former nurse - BBC Sounds

Elizabeth has been awarded 7 Honorary Doctorate Degrees from the following universities: St Andrews, Manchester, Birmingham City, Brunel, London South Bank, Greenwich and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

Her memoirs, entitled Dreams From My Mother, were published in 2021 by Orion Books.  It is available in both paperback and as an audiobook.