About the Program
Established by The Mayday Fund 2004, the Mayday Pain & Society Fellowship: A Media and Policy Initiative trains physicians, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, scientists, and legal scholars in the pain management community to go beyond their own professional pursuits to become players in the pain field, and ultimately have real impact on the lives of people in pain. This is the fifth year of the program, which will run through 2009.
The Mayday Fund, a New York City-based foundation dedicated to alleviating the incidence, degree, and consequence of human physical pain, is interested in providing new leaders in the field with tools that will enable them to reach the broader public. The foundation established the fellowship to train six leaders a year, providing them with intensive training and five months of coaching in media, policy and leadership.
After communications and leadership training in Washington D.C., the fellows will be well-equipped to facilitate discussion and network with the media, policymakers, advocates, and health and business leaders. The fellows in the program also will have the opportunity to work one-on-one with communications professionals to develop a communications strategy for a goal they choose.
Fellows must be available for a four-day training session held in Washington, D.C. in October, 20-23, 2008, and must commit 10 percent of their time over a six month period to the fellowship. Following completion of the session, each fellow will work closely with a communications firm for five months to develop a communications strategic plan based on a goal. Possible goals include:
- Advancing the pain management field in your institution
- Educating patients and the public about treatment for acute and chronic pain
- Educating the public about alternative treatments to pain medications
- Developing improved pain management curriculum or trainings
- Educating policymakers about the need for improved pain management
Examples of tools for reaching goals could include:
- Writing opinion editorials
- Connecting with local and national media
- Meeting with or testifying before Members of Congress or state legislators
- Inviting media, policymakers or regulators to your institution
- Establishing a public relations committee within a professional society
- Establishing a fellowship or lectureship on pain in your institution
Fellowship Advisory Committee and Staff
Chair: Russell K. Portenoy, M.D. is Chairman of the Department of Pain Medicine and Palliative Care at Beth Israel Medical Center, and Professor of Neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, for which Beth Israel serves as the Manhattan Campus.
James Campbell, M.D., Professor of Neurosurgery and Vice Chairman of the Department at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Scott Fishman, M.D., Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Director, Division of Pain Medicine, University of California, Davis.
Kathleen Foley, M.D., Chief of Pain Service at Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and Professor of Neurology, Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology at Cornell University Medical College.
Sandra H. Johnson, J.D., Tenet Chair in Health Law and Ethics, Saint Louis University.
Patrick John McGrath, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry and Pediatrics, Dalhousie University Medical School.
Joan Teno, M.D., M.S., Professor of Community Health and Medicine, and Associate Director of the Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research at the Brown Medical School.
Lonnie Zeltzer, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics, Anesthesiology, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David GeffenSchool of Medicine at UCLA, Director, Pediatric Paiin Program, UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital
Christina Spellman, Executive Director, The Mayday Fund
Communications Team and Program Administrators
Burness Communications