Maxine E. Elkan Scholarship
For Nurses Pursuing a PhD or EdD Degree for a Career in Nursing Education
The Maxine E. Elkan Scholarship was created in 2025 by Diane Mancino, EdD, RN, CAE, FAAN. Maxine Elizabeth Elkan was a graduate of the third class of the Montefiore Hospital School of Nursing in 1928, and served as a psychiatric nurse, American Red Cross Nurse, and public health and industrial nurse. Late in her career, Maxine worked as a private duty nurse at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital's Harkness Pavilion. She was also a professional photographer, women’s clothing designer, and mastered the recorder.
This permanent scholarship is awarded to a nurse completing a PhD or EdD degree, with preference given to a student pursuing a career as a nurse educator.
Featured Maxine E. Elkan Scholarship Recipients
The recipients of this scholarship are using their clinical experience to pursue doctoral research to address gaps in health care, develop solutions that improve patient outcomes, and teach and mentor other nurses:
Marissa Bergh, RN
- Is an Urban Doctoral Fellow at New York University
- Worked as a research assistant for a nurse-scientist during her undergraduate studies, where she saw the distinct perspective that nurses brought to research
- Has eight years of clinical experience with older adult patients, spanning inpatient and community settings, where she persistently witnessed barriers within the housing environment
- Focused her dissertation on the relationship between housing environments and long-term care trajectories, which will serve as the foundation for a career as a nurse scientist and professor advancing research at the intersection of housing and community-based aging
- Spent two years as a policy intern with the Moving Forward Nursing Home Quality Coalition, where she worked to advance policies that strengthen and support the nursing home workforce
- Volunteers as a support group facilitator for caregivers of people living with dementia
Jacqueline Massaro, MSN, RN, ACNS-BC, CWOCN
- Is a board-certified Adult Clinical Nurse Specialist (ACNS-BC) and a Certified Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nurse (CWOCN), presenting regularly at local and national nursing conferences to share her work and advocate for equity and excellence in wound care
- Began her nursing career in a small community hospital on a medical unit, followed by Brigham & Women’s Hospital’s medical-surgical unit, then intensive care unit (ICU), where she learned to care for adults with medically complex diagnoses
- Became a preceptor for new ICU nurses and served as a clinical instructor for two nursing schools
- Developed a program of research at Connell School of Nursing at Boston College focused on equitable pressure injury prevention in acute care settings
- Is a member of the Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society of Nursing, Alpha Chi Chapter, and serves on the Research Committee of the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel