One of the most robust collections in the Bjoring Center’s archives traces the experiences of the late Rita K. Chow, PhD, RN, FAAN,

Rita K. Chow, an American Academy of Nursing "Living Legend"

a first-generation American of Chinese descent who entered nursing in 1950. Thankfully, she was a keeper rather than a tosser of records, giving scholars an especially wide vantage of public health nursing over a lifetime, often in challenging posts and serving historically marginalized groups.

In 2024, the American Academy of Nursing honored Chow as a “Living Legend” for the many trails she blazed. Among them: she implemented a music and movement program for patients with leprosy at the National Hansen’s Disease Center in Carville, La., and helped develop one of the first prisoner-run hospice programs in the nation, at the Federal Bureau of Prisons Medical Center in Forth Worth, Texas.

Her talent for innovation was apparent early on. As a graduate student, she spearheaded a research project using closed-circuit television in the intensive care unit to record nurses’ real-time actions and responsibilities.

"I thought that if we could document what the nature of nursing is, then we would be able to teach it—to teach what should be done, and the scientific reasons for that care.”

Rita K. Chow

That work culminated in her 1976 textbook, Cardiosurgical Nursing Care: Understandings, Concepts, and Principles for Practice. She went on to author and edit more than 100 professional publications. Numerous national awards recognized her impact on the nursing profession and her unwavering dedication to health equity.

Sadly, Chow passed away on June 9, 2025 at the age of 98.