Dame Elzabeth Anionwu (b. 1947) is the daughter of an Irish woman and Nigerian father,
Elizabeth had a disrupted childhood as she lived in a convent between periods of being with her single mother, which she talks about in her memoir, Mixed Blessings from a Cambridge Union (2016).
Elizabeth Anionwu went on to become a specialist in treating the blood disorders, sickle-cell and thalessemia, created the Mary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice at the University of West Lond, and earned a PhD.
During her long career she publish many works related to sickle cell disease, as well as A short history of Mary Seacole (2005).
Elzabeth Anionwu is the recipient of many awards, including being appointed a CBE in 2001, a Fellowship of the Royal College of Nursing in 2004, and an Order of Merit in 2022.