Three Hunter-Bellevue graduate students — Jennifer Bottoms-Robb, Sora Gordon, and Justin O’Leary — are receiving scholarships for this academic year from the Nurses Educational Funds, a nonprofit established in 1912 by nurses for nurses.
The scholarships are based on academic performance and leadership capabilities and are provided directly to students for their use in supporting their studies. The highly competitive scholarships are awarded to fewer than 100 students across the nation each year.
“Congratulations to Jennifer, Sora, and Justin on these richly deserved awards,” said Joan Hansen Grabe Dean Ann Marie Mauro. “They embody the excellence of our Hunter nursing students and our school mission to promote wellness and champion health equity in local and global communities.”
The scholarships underscore Hunter’s role as an anchor institution and high-impact training ground for nursing improving health equity in the city and state. Hunter was ranked third out of 210 nursing schools in New York and in the top 10% nationally by nonprofit news site RN Careers. Our master’s programs also were ranked among the best in the state by RegisteredNursing.org, a nursing-advocacy organization.
Bottoms-Robb is entering her final year of study for her master’s degree to become a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner; this is the second consecutive year she has earned an NEF Scholarship. For the past 20 years, she has worked as a neonatal intensive-care nurse. She loves caring for the neonate population and educating and supporting their parents from admission to discharge.
Bottoms-Robb said she will use her degree to help individuals in the Black community, who have grappled with issues including intergenerational trauma, distrust of healthcare professionals, lack of resources, and stigma.
Gordon is the first recipient of the organization’s Francine Bono-Neri Scholarship, awarded to nurses whose clinical care and research support all areas related to preventing sex trafficking, including child sexual assault and abuse, domestic violence, adverse childhood experiences, and child maltreatment.
She has worked in the mental-health field for most of her career and spent the last five years specializing in pediatric behavioral health and is working toward becoming a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. She chose Hunter College for its strong reputation in preparing mental health professionals who are equipped to meet the needs of diverse, urban populations.
O’Leary, a student in the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing PhD program, focuses on health equity. As a process improvement engineer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, O’Leary works with nurses and other clinicians to improve and streamline care for oncology patients. At Hunter, O’Leary is studying the financial hardship LGBTQ+ patients face when receiving medical care with a focus on oncology care, exploring disparities in the oncology population.
About Nurses Educational Funds
Nurses Educational Funds promotes leadership and health equality through annual scholarship support for professional nurses seeking master’s and doctoral degrees in nursing education, advanced clinical practice, research, health policy, and administration.
The next Nurses Educational Funds scholarship application period opens on October 1 and closes on February 2, 2026.
