Anele received her diploma in nursing from Berea College School of Nursing in Berea, Kentucky. She subsequently received a Baccalaureate and master’s degree in psychiatric nursing from the University of California, San Francisco. She has extensive experience in psychiatric nursing, including adolescent and adult psychiatry. 

For twenty years she was psychiatric nurse consultant and coordinator of psychiatric nursing consultation at San Francisco General Hospital. She was Assistant Clinical Professor in Mental Health, Community and Administrative Nursing at the University of California, San Francisco. She created and co-chaired a National Psychiatric Consultation/Liaison Conference in 1987, which provided continuing education in nursing. This conference meets annually and has subsequently become an international conference.

She created a brief curriculum and practicum in consultation/liaison nursing for graduate nursing students at UCSF that is currently being practiced. As a psychiatric nurse consultant, she assisted non-psychiatric nurses in the hospital to assimilate and integrate psychological principles into their practice. During this time, she developed a protocol for management of acute post-traumatic stress response. This protocol was adopted by the hospital as a standard care plan for nursing management of patients with acute post-traumatic stress response in the non-psychiatric areas of the hospital.

Ms. Runyion has published and spoken nationally. She was listed in Who’s Who in American Nursing in 1991-92 and 1996-97. Currently, she is a self-employed consultant and writer.