Mayday Pain & Society Fellowship
Frequently Asked Questions

Possible strategic goals include:

1. What kind of time commitment does the Fellowship require?
2. Does the Fellowship end after the coaching period?
3. Is this a paid Fellowship?
4. May I apply if I live outside of the United States?
5. Why does my supervisor or chair have to sign off on my time commitment?
6. What if I don’t have a supervisor?
7. At what level in my career should I consider applying for the Fellowship?
8. What happens after I submit my application?
9. How will the Advisory Committee determine if I have made the top 10?
10. How will I know that I’ve been selected as a Mayday Fellow?
11. What if I can’t make all four days of the training in Washington, DC?
12. Who will conduct the four-day media and policy training in Washington, DC?
13. What support do you offer during the coaching period?
14. Why do I have to disclose my financial relationships with pharmaceutical and/or medical device companies?
15. Why can’t I apply if I am affiliated with a pharmaceutical or medical device company?

1. What kind of time commitment does the Fellowship require?

Once you are selected as a Fellow in August 2010, you are expected to attend a four-day training in Washington, DC on October 25-28, 2010. The Mayday Fund will reimburse your travel expenses (airfare/train/auto mileage/hotel). Following the training, you will be assigned to a communications professional from Burness Communications for a five-month period, who will provide one-on-one coaching, strategic counseling, and technical assistance to help you identify and implement a plan for meeting your advocacy goals in pain management.

You and your coach will determine how often you will meet, usually by phone. (Typically, this occurs once every week or every other week, depending on your goal.)

2. Does the Fellowship end after the coaching period?

Once a Mayday Fellow, always a Mayday Fellow! The Pain & Society Fellowship is very much about building a social network. Beyond the coaching period, you are encouraged to stay in touch and to stay engaged through a listserv of all previous Fellows and the Advisory Committee. Fellows share their successes, their questions and sometimes work together on advocacy efforts. You are encouraged to work with your public relations and government relations officers at your institution to assist you in continuing your goals of advocating for people in pain.

3. Is this a paid Fellowship?

The Mayday Fund will cover travel expenses to the training in October, and will cover the cost of receiving communications support over five months from Burness Communications.

4. May I apply if I live outside of the United States?

The Mayday Pain & Society Fellowship is open to candidates from the United States and Canada. The Fellowship at this point is offered only in English.

5. Why does my supervisor or chair have to sign off on my time commitment?

It is important that the person you report to is fully aware and is supportive of your commitment to be involved with the Fellowship. You are being asked to devote 10 percent of your time, and you will have to determine how to balance your activities as a Mayday Fellow with your day-to-day duties. It is important that your supervisor or chair understand how your time will be divided and that you are able to set realistic expectations for your responsibilities. The approval letter should reflect this understanding.

6. What if I don’t have a supervisor?

The Mayday Fellowship Advisory Committee will ultimately determine who becomes a Fellow, and special circumstances will be considered for those who do not report to anyone. However, your application should indicate the reason why no one is in a position to approve your time commitment.

7. At what level in my career should I consider applying for the Fellowship?

The Advisory Committee’s priority is to evaluate an applicant’s potential based on energy, passion and dedication to advocacy in the pain field, as well as the time commitment that can be given to the program. The Fellowship accepts professionals at all career levels.

8. What happens after I submit my application?

The application season is March 1 – June 15, 2010.

The Advisory Committee review comes in two phases. All applications will be reviewed, scored and then divided into two groups. Ten of the applicants will be selected as part of the finalist pool. They will be contacted at the end of July. The final phase of the selection process, which includes interviews, will then take place, and the final six candidates will be named by the end of August.

If at the end of July, you are not selected to proceed to the 10 chosen for interviews, you will receive a letter indicating your status.

9. How will the Advisory Committee determine if I have made the top 10?

The Advisory Committee will review each application by rating categories on a criteria chart. They will read the application, supervisor letter and the CV. Criteria include region, specialty, strength of application, leadership, passion, advocacy awareness. Advisory Committee members’ ratings are compared and tabulated and the top ten candidates will be determined.

10. How will I know that I’ve been selected as a Mayday Fellow?

After reviewing and scoring your application, someone from Burness Communications will contact you via email and/or telephone in late July to inform you that you have been selected as a finalist in the top 10. Two members of The Mayday Fellowship Advisory Committee will tag team to conduct a phone interview with you in August to determine if you have been selected as one of six Fellows to participate in the program.

Priority is given to those applicants who can attend the media and policy training, commit 10 percent of their time to the Fellowship, and have an active goal for advocating on behalf of the pain field. The final decision is made by the end of August, when you will receive a phone call to confirm the selection.

11. What if I can’t make all four days of the training in Washington, DC?

The training is a primer to the activities you may be engaged in throughout your initial Fellowship period (November 2010 – March 2011). It is considered an important foundation to building your advocacy goals. Attendance is mandatory to gain the full benefit from the training.

12. Who will conduct the four-day media and policy training in Washington, DC?

The Mayday Fund has collaborated with Burness Communications (www.burnesscommunications.com) since the Fellowship program was established in 2004. Burness Communications is an international public relations company with dedicated professionals who have provided communications support solely to more than 300 non-profit organizations since 1986 to help effect social change, improve the human condition, and advance social change in the United States and around the world.

Coordinated by the Burness Health & Science Advocacy Institute, communications professionals work with Fellows to help them find their voices and become memorable. Skills taught include how to: deliver concise messages, use effective techniques to engage diverse audiences, inform policy debates, and generate support for your work through an array of different media and policy strategies.

13. What support do you offer during the coaching period?

Each Fellow will specify his or her goals. Coaches will work with you to identify a plan and develop a timeline that is right for you to help build your advocacy work in the pain field. The communications support is designed to fit into the 10 percent of the time you will devote to the Fellowship. During that time, your coach will offer strategic counsel, media relations support, editing, reviewing/proofing, and any other technical assistance that will help you achieve your communications goals. Your coach will play a supporting role, but you will be the one to take the lead in your communications activities.

The value you take from the Fellowship will be in direct proportion to how engaged you are in taking advantage of the training.

14. Why do I have to disclose my financial relationships with pharmaceutical and/or medical device companies?

The Advisory Committee has asked for this information as part of its concern with best practices and awareness of the need for clear statements regarding potential conflicts of interest. The answer will not be a factor in decision-making.

15. Why can’t I apply if I am affiliated with a pharmaceutical or medical device company?

The Mayday Fund is a private foundation whose activities must be for charitable purposes. Those employed by or affiliated with a pharmaceutical or medical device company are in the private sector where training such as this may be offered as part of corporate expense. The goal of the Fellowship has been to increase the number of spokespersons in professions directly involved in the care of those in pain who would not likely receive training in public advocacy.