Mayday Fund Announces New Fellowhsip ProgramBuilding off successful 10-year program, Fund announces Advisory Committee and call for applications
Apply online at www.MaydayFellows.org from December 6, 2017 to January 10, 2018
NEW YORK (December 6, 2017) – The MAYDAY Fund, a New York City private foundation dedicated to alleviating the incidence, degree, and consequence of human physical pain, announced today that it will launch a new fellowship program to train evidence-based pain experts in communications, advocacy and translation of scientific research and best practices.
The new fellowship, The Mayday Pain & Society Fellowship: Communicating Science & Improving Care, will train 10-12 clinicians and researchers who are passionate about improving pain care and who are dedicated to building communications skills and strategies aimed at reducing human suffering from acute and chronic pain. These Fellows must already work on research and evidence-based approaches to advance what is known about pain and how best to care for it.
The application is now available at www.maydayfellows.org and the application period will close on January 10, 2018. The fellowship will launch with a workshop from June 17 – 20, 2018 in Washington, DC.
“One of the MAYDAY Fund’s principles for its grantmaking is to close the gap between knowledge and practice. The Trustees of the Fund recognize that the pain field needs experts who have the skills to communicate what is known from the emerging scientific research and clinical practice improvements,” said Christina Spellman, the Fund’s executive director. “From the Fund’s previous Fellowship program, we learned that experts want to translate their work to a broader audience and to the public more generally. Many of the past Fellows report that the program was ‘transformative’ in their careers.”
The Fund operated the Mayday Pain & Society Fellowship: A Media & Policy Fellows Initiative from 2004 through 2015 and trained 60 experts.
“As Trustees of The MAYDAY Fund, we seek to work where we will have a meaningful impact,” said Caroline N. Sidnam, a Trustee. “Our goal with the Fellows Program is to prepare those who know the most about pain and its care to share their knowledge as broadly and responsibly as possible. The need for trustworthy information is real and large.”
In addition to the three-day workshop in Washington, DC, the fellows will receive follow-up support and coaching from communications experts from the social change communications firm, Burness.
The fellowship will be guided by a multi-disciplinary Advisory Committee, comprising leaders working in the United States and Canada. Committee members include four past Mayday Pain & Society Fellows. The full committee is:
- Christine Chambers, PhD, RPsych, Canada Research Chair in Children’s Pain; Killam Professor, Departments of Pediatrics and Psychology & Neuroscience, Dalhousie University & IWK Health Centre; 2012 Mayday Fellow
- Karen Davis, PhD, Professor, Department of Surgery and Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto; Head, Division of Brain, Imaging and Behaviour-Systems Neuroscience, Krembil Research Institute, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network; 2013 Mayday Fellow
- Renee Manworren, PhD, APRN, FAAN, Posy and Fred Love Chair in Nursing Research, Director of Nursing Research and Professional Practice, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago; Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine; 2012 Mayday Fellow
- Samuel McLean, MD, MPH, Jeffrey Houpt Distinguished Investigator and Director, Institute for Trauma Recovery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Cary Reid, MD, PhD, The Irving Sherwood Wright Associate Professor of Medicine, Director of Cornell’s Translational Research Institute on Pain in Later Life, Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College
- Gregory Terman, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine and the Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Washington; 2011 Mayday Fellow
For more details on the fellowship requirements, the application and expectations, please visit www.MaydayFellows.org.
About The MAYDAY Fund
The MAYDAY Fund was established in 1992 to further Shirley Steinman Katzenbach’s commitment to social and medical causes. The Trustees decided to adopt Mrs. Katzenbach’s special interest in the treatment of pain as the Fund’s mission. The name MAYDAY commemorates the date of her birth and is the international word signaling a cry for help, taken from the French “m’aidez” or “help me.”
The MAYDAY Fund, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization since 1992, engages only in philanthropic grant activities defined by its mission targeting the alleviation of pain. It should not be confused with any other organization that uses a similar name or includes “mayday” in its representation.
