About the Author

Rita Abiamiri (née Chukwulebe) was born and raised in Igboland, in the eastern part of Nigeria, in a village called Umuezeala Umuna Okigwe in the Onuimo local government area. She began her nursing career in Nigeria after graduating from Mater Misericordiae School of Nursing Afikpo, then in Imo State, Nigeria, in 1977. (Afikpo is currently in Ebony State, Nigeria.)

She also graduated from the School of Midwifery in 1979 at the same school. She worked as a midwifery educator at the Holy Rosary Hospital Emekuku after graduation for about a year before leaving that job to get married.

Soon after her marriage, she emigrated to the United States in 1981 when she joined her husband, Dr. Peter Abiamiri, who was studying to obtain his doctoral degree at the time. While in the United States, Rita earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing administration from the University of Baltimore in 1984 and a master’s degree in nursing administration from Towson State University in Towson, Maryland in 1987.

Rita worked in various hospitals within the Baltimore metropolitan area throughout her career in the United States, holding various positions from lower-level staff to management. She was also an adjunct professor at Coppin State College for many years. Her career spanned thirty-eight years in the US and forty-two years altogether. She retired in December 2019 after spending the last eighteen years of her nursing career working for the United States Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, where she also held various leadership positions.

She received multiple awards of excellence in nursing from various hospitals. She is a member of American Nurses Association and a member emeritus of American critical care nursing and various social organizations within her community.