Emilia Ngozi Iwu (PhD, RN, APNC, FWACN), clinical associate professor and assistant dean for global health at Rutgers University School of Nursing, has been named a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN)—one of the profession’s highest honors.

The 2024 cohort of fellows will be inducted at the academy’s annual Health Policy Conference to be held October 31 – November 2 in Washington, DC.

“I am thrilled to welcome these impressive nurse leaders into our organization,” said Academy President Linda D. Scott, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FNAP, FAAN. “Each new fellow will be vital to achieving the Academy’s mission of improving health and advancing health equity by impacting policy through nursing leadership, innovation, and science.”

Iwu is the only nurse in New Jersey to join the academy this year. Selected through a rigorous, competitive application process, the 2024 fellows cohort represents 37 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and 14 countries. As new members, they will join the academy comprised of more than 3,000 nurse leaders– experts across policy, research, administration, practice, and academia that champion health and wellness, locally and globally.

Iwu has served on the faculty at Rutgers School of Nursing since 2014. In addition to her leadership role at the school, she is a core faculty member at the universitywide Rutgers Global Health Institute. She also cares for patients as a family nurse practitioner at a New Jersey urgent care facility.

Over more than two decades, she has contributed significantly to improving health outcomes in Nigeria. Her efforts in research, clinical practice, academic, and policy arenas focus on reducing maternal and infant mortality and reducing the spread of HIV; the two leading causes of death in the region.

Iwu leveraged her clinical expertise and assisted the Nigerian government in developing the Nigerian National HIV Treatment Guidelines. Due to the impactful nature of her work on access to care and Nigerian national health policy, she received the Sigma Theta Tau International Global Research Award.

Working with the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, she was largely responsible for the establishment of advanced practice nursing as a profession in that country.

She is the senior technical advisor for nursing and community programs at the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria an organization supporting HIV and TB care in Nigeria, with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other key partners.

Iwu is Nigeria’s principal investigator for a five-year study involving a consortium of four African countries. Funded by the UK government (UK AID), the study aims to improve maternal and newborn health in conflict-affected countries. In Nigeria, Iwu is leading an investigation of midwifery education and workforce integration and their influence on maternal/newborn mortality in conflict-affected Yobe State. 

Iwu is a past president and current board of directors member of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses in North America. She has been a member of the National Academies Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education since 2014. She is a fellow of the West African College of Nursing, an international agency of the West African Health Organization, and a member of Sigma, the international honor society of nursing.

She earned undergraduate nursing degrees at Rutgers School of Nursing-Camden and Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ after training in midwifery and registered nursing in Nigeria. She received her master’s and doctoral degrees from Rutgers School of Nursing in Newark and completed a two-year, National Institutes of Health-funded Ruth L. Kirschstein Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. Iwu also completed two fellowships with the Carnegie Foundation African Diaspora program and is an alumna of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Fellowship and Jonas Foundation Nurse Leaders Fellowship.

Earlier this year, Iwu’s accomplishments as a health care professional in the African diaspora were highlighted on Channels TV, one of Africa’s largest broadcast networks.

Upon her induction into the academy, Iwu will join an outstanding cadre of full-time Rutgers School of Nursing faculty members who have achieved the coveted FAAN designation:

• Julie Blumenfeld, DNP, CNM, IBCLC, FACNM, FAAN
• Wendy Budin, PhD, RN-BC, FAAN
• Edna Cadmus, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN
• Jill Cox, PhD, RN, APN-c, CWOCN, FAAN
• Karen D’Alonzo, PhD, RN, APN-c, FAAN
• Caroline Dorsen, PhD, FNP-BC, FAAN
• Linda Flynn, PhD, RN, FAAN
• Lucille Joel, EdD, RN, APN, FAAN
• Mary Johansen, PhD, RN, NE-BC, FAAN
• Jeffrey Kwong, DNP, MPH, AGPCNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN
• Olga Jarrín Montaner, PhD, RN, FAAN
• John Nelson, PhD, CNS, CPNP, FAAN
• Susan Salmond, EdD, RN, ANEF, FAAN
• Charlotte Thomas-Hawkins, PhD, RN, FAAN