Masako Mayahara is an Associate Professor at Rush University College of Nursing.

Dr. Mayahara is a clinical expert in pain management in hospice and palliative care. Informed by her clinical work and input from end-of-life care experts and lay caregivers, she created a digital pain application to assist family caregivers of home hospice patients to manage their loved ones’ pain effectively and safely. Through NIH funding, she is among the first to be testing the use of a digital pain application that includes educational modules and interfaces with the electronic medical record in a home hospice setting. Additionally, Dr. Mayahara developed an award-winning series of hospice and palliative care educational modules to expand the interprofessional palliative care workforce and to promote safe opioid use nationally.

She has held elected leadership positions with the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association, the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Foundation, and Midwest Nursing Research Society. Through her leadership she advocates for the need for certified hospice and palliative care nurses. Her contributions to advancing the scientific basis for hospice/palliative nursing have been nationally recognized by acceptance as a Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association Research Scholar and induction as a Fellow in Palliative Care Nursing.

Dr. Mayahara received her PhD from the University of Illinios at Chicago, and her MS and BSN from Rush University.