Nurses of the World: Meet PIH Liberia’s New Director of Nursing

Editor's Note: This piece is part of a series highlighting the vital role nurses play in health care systems around the world. Look out for more stories on nurses from Partners In Health (PIH) sites in the weeks leading up to International Nurses Day on Tuesday, May 12.

Growing up as the youngest of six siblings in Liberia, Veronica Nimene was surrounded by family who cared for her every need.

"I had people doing everything for me," recalls Nimene, PIH Liberia's director of nursing. "My only focus was go to school, come home from school, and read my books."

As she grew older, she began realizing the importance of reciprocating care and love. Her upbringing, along with her first profession, led her to nursing. But first, she was an English and Literature teacher at elementary and high schools in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Her experience teaching and caring for students, particularly one girl struggling in her class, reinforced her desire to help others beyond the classroom. Nimene noticed the student frequently arrived late with messy hair, torn clothes, and no lunch. Eager to help and understand the situation, Nimene spoke with the child's mother and learned she was a single parent of four working as a street vendor. With permission, Nimene stepped in to help the girl.

"It became a routine every weekend," reflects Nimene. The child would go to Nimene's house, do school lessons, get her hair done, and go to church. She soon started to do well in school and made friends. Seeing the positive change, Nimene knew, "I needed to do something more. I wanted to take care of the individual holistically."

She pursued a career change, feeling that the nursing profession would give her the chance to provide the type of care she longed to give. Upon starting nursing school, she immediately felt a sense of belonging.

"This is the right place," says Nimene. "I found my comfort zone."

A Liberian national: 'I need to also pay my dues'

After graduating with an associate degree in nursing in 2003, she worked at a nonprofit mission hospital in Monrovia, the country's capital, and her home city. In 2005, she moved to rural Maryland County-where her husband lived-and spent a year working at J.J. Dossen Memorial Hospital. At the time, PIH hadn't started working in Liberia.

The hospital had "dilapidated structures, bush all around, and few staff," reflects Nimene. "The condition was terrible. You couldn't find many Liberians willing to come to this end [of the country]. Even finding food here was a challenge."

A year later, she went back to school to earn a bachelor's degree in nursing, before going on to climb the career ladder working in health facilities across many countries, including Niger, Nigeria, Kenya, and South Sudan.

In February 2026, Nimene was hired by PIH Liberia and returned to J.J. Dossen Memorial Hospital for the first time in two decades.

"I couldn't recognize the hospital. It's a different J.J. Dossen, a brand new J.J. Dossen," she says. "The entire city has changed. Now it's populated. There are shops. The roads [improved]. Tubman University is now operational. Back then, it was closed from the effect of the war."

Many other organizations fled the country because of the civil war and Ebola epidemic, among other reasons. In 2014, PIH began working in Liberia and has remained ever since-recently celebrating a decade of impact and accompaniment. Nimene admires that PIH decided to stay.

"It wasn't only just to stay, but to strengthen the health system for a country, not just an institution," she says. "Being a Liberian, I told myself if others are coming in to support to take care of my country, I think I need to also pay my dues."

Patients remain top priority

An experienced nurse, Nimene is excited to be a PIHer. Despite being in a leadership role, she plans to continue providing hands on patient care, noting she's not an "office person."

"I always like to be with the patients to understand their needs and how best, from the leadership level, that we can support the nurses and midwives to provide quality and dignified care for our patients," she says.

Decades into her career, her ongoing motivation to do this work comes from the patients themselves.

As she looks ahead to the future of the nurse workforce in Liberia, she sees ample opportunities to improve nursing and midwifery education. In particular, she's excited to closely collaborate with the Liberian Board for Nursing and Midwifery and Tubman University-including a partnership with University of Global Health Equity, which PIH operates in Rwanda.

"I'm really excited and privileged to be part of PIH," she says.