Professor Dame Elizabeth Anionwu (born Elizabeth Mary Furlong)is a remarkable figure whose work has had a huge impact on the understanding and treatment of sickle cell disease. This genetic condition primarily affects people of African, Caribbean, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean descent. Her life’s work spans nursing, academia, and advocacy, making her one of the most influential figures in British healthcare.
Early life and education
Born on 2 July 1947 in Birmingham, England, Elizabeth Anionwu’s early life was marked by challenges that would inspire her passion for healthcare and social justice.
She is the daughter of a Nigerian father and an Irish mother who met while studying at Cambridge. Her mum, a promising classics student, was the first in her family to reach university. Like many young Nigerians of his time, her dad studied law with plans to help his country transition from a colony to an independent nation. He later became a barrister and Vatican ambassador.
In her memoir, Dame Elizabeth reveals that her mother’s unwed pregnancy shocked her devout Catholic family. The discovery that the baby was of Nigerian descent was even more scandalous. During World War II, about two thousand mixed-heritage babies were born to British women and African American GIs. While many mothers kept their children, roughly a third were put into care.
Due to the stigma of her mixed heritage, Dame Elizabeth spent her first nine years at Nazareth House in Birmingham, a Catholic-run home, where she received regular visits from her mother. As a child, she suffered from severe eczema. A nurse used humour to distract her from the pain of changing her bandages. This nurse’s kindness and skill inspired Dame Elizabeth to pursue nursing herself.
Despite these hardships, Anionwu excelled academically. Her early experiences with healthcare, coupled with a desire to improve the lives of others, guided her decision to enter the medical field.
She trained as a nurse at Paddington General Hospital, London, becoming state-registered in 1968. Working as a health visitor appealed to her, allowing her to work in the community and visit families at home. A friendship with a French African nurse and reconnecting with her father was key to embracing her African identity and sparking her political awareness. She saw herself as a ‘progressive health visitor’, concerned not just with health but her patients’ overall wellbeing, including social and financial issues.
Pioneering work in sickle cell disease
In the 1970s, her interest in sickle cell anaemia grew as she encountered it in her health visitor role. She wondered if its neglect was due to its impact on marginalised groups. This led her to start a support group and become a sickle cell nurse counsellor and information officer for the Sickle Cell Society, advocating for better services for patients and families. Trips to the US and the Caribbean allowed her to study sickle cell services and attitudes towards the illness.
She specialised in sickle cell anaemia and thalassemia, genetic blood disorders that were poorly understood and under-researched at the time. She furthered her education with a degree in social science from the University of London and later earned a master’s degree in tropical medicine.
Her work in this field began in earnest in 1979 when she helped establish the first-ever sickle cell and thalassemia counselling centre in the UK, located in Brent, London. This centre provided crucial support to families affected by these disorders, offering genetic counselling, education, and advocacy.
Anionwu’s groundbreaking work didn’t stop there. She was pivotal in raising awareness about sickle cell disease among healthcare professionals and within communities at risk. Her efforts helped to destigmatise the condition and improve the quality of care for patients. She also co-authored the first ever textbook on the subject, The Politics of Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia, which highlighted the social and political dimensions of the disease.
Academic and professional achievements
Professor Anionwu’s career in academia is as impressive as her clinical work. Her work earned her respect in the community, health service and academia. She was appointed the first UK Professor of Nursing specialising in Ethnic Minority Health at the University of West London. In this role, she taught and mentored a new generation of nurses and healthcare professionals.
Her research and advocacy work earned her numerous accolades. In 2001, she was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to nursing and the Mary Seacole Leadership Award, which she used to study the life of Mary Seacole, another pioneering nurse of African descent. Her biography, Mixed Blessings from a Cambridge Union, details her personal and professional journey, offering insight into the challenges and triumphs she experienced.
In 2010, she was inducted into the Nursing Times Nursing Hall of Fame for developing nurse-led services and received a Chief Nursing Officers’ Award for Lifetime Achievement. In 2017, she was honoured with the title Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in recognition of her contributions to nursing and sickle cell care. This was a fitting tribute to a lifetime of dedication to improving healthcare for marginalised communities.
Advocacy and legacy
Beyond her academic and professional achievements, Professor Anionwu has tirelessly advocated for health equity. She has worked to ensure that ethnic minorities’ needs are recognised within the healthcare system and has been a vocal critic of persistent inequalities. Her advocacy extends to public speaking, writing, and mentoring, inspiring countless others to follow in her footsteps.
Her campaign to recognise Mary Seacole, a 19th-century Jamaican British nurse, raised awareness about her life and the contributions of Black and minority ethnic nurses nationwide. She established the Mary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice to integrate a multi-ethnic philosophy into nursing, education and research.
As a trustee of the Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal, Dame Elizabeth helped realise the goal of erecting a statue of Seacole in front of St Thomas’ Hospital in London.
Professor Anionwu’s legacy is evident in the improvements in care and awareness surrounding sickle cell disease in the UK and beyond. Her pioneering work laid the foundation for a better understanding and treatment of the disease, improving the lives of thousands of patients and their families.
As a trailblazer in her field, her legacy will continue to inspire future generations of healthcare professionals.
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