Mayday Fellows
The Mayday Pain & Society Fellowship: Communicating Science & Improving Care
The Mayday Fellowship is no longer accepting applications for 2026-2027. Please check back here for information about the 2026 Mayday Fellows and future application information.
About the Fellowship
The MAYDAY Fund has long encouraged pain experts to assume public leadership roles to help end human suffering from pain through public discourse about research, best practices in care and policy. From 2004 to 2015, this public engagement and leadership training was provided through the “Mayday Pain & Society Fellowship: A Media and Policy Initiative,” which provided 60 Fellows with communication and public outreach skills. This initiative was based on the belief that experts would increase their effectiveness in advancing the field of pain management and ensuring better care for patients by enhancing their communication skills.
Building on this experience, The MAYDAY Fund is launching a new Fellowship in 2018 to build the next generation of pain experts who can provide evidence-based and solutions-focused information about pain care and treatment, as well as promising research emerging in the field.
The new Fellowship will provide a three-day communication workshop in Washington, D.C., for clinicians and researchers based in the United States or Canada who are passionate about improving pain care and who are dedicated to building communications skills and strategies aimed to reduce human suffering from acute and chronic pain. The Fund will seek applicants working on research and evidence-based approaches to advance what is known about pain and how to best care for it. Targeted work might include: sharing critical research on the science of pain and on emerging evidence-based treatments, fixes to how pain is addressed in the health care system, training for frontline clinicians, sharing critical research on the science of pain and on emerging evidence-based treatments, and on addressing the disparities in care.
The application criteria and Fellowship requirements are included in the application below.
Training & Coaching
The 2025-2026 Mayday Fellows will participate in a three-day training workshop held in Washington, D.C., from Sunday, October 18, 2026, through Wednesday, October 21, 2026. Following the workshop, each Fellow will receive five hours of coaching support from a member of the coaching faculty at Burness to identify communications activities that they will complete within one year of the training.
There are no tuition costs. All travel, seminars, and communications coaching will be covered by The MAYDAY Fund.
Apply Now
The Mayday Fund is pleased to announce the 2026-27 Mayday Fellows who will communicate the latest evidence-based solutions in pain care and treatment, as well as the promising research in the field.
View the 2026-27 Fellows here.
Mayday Fellows
2026-27 Mayday Fellows
James R. Babington, MD
Chief of Neurosciences, Swedish Edmonds; Program Medical Director, Medical Spine, Swedish Medical Group, Swedish Pain Services, Providence-Swedish
Vidya Chidambaran, MD, MS, MMM, FASA, FAAP
Professor of Anesthesia, Vice Chief for Pain, Equity and Innovation, Edward E. Lowe, MD, Chair for Clinical and Translational Research in Anesthesia, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
Lauren Harrison, PhD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine
Brittany Knight, PhD
Executive Director & CEO, United States Association for the Study of Pain
Sylvie Le May, RN, PhD, FCAN
Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Nursing, University of Montreal; Researcher, Azrieli Research Centre, CHU St. Justine’s Pediatric Centre
Hélène Le Scelleur
Canadian Armed Forces Veteran; Doctoral Candidate, Social Work (PhD Candidate); Doctoral Researcher; Chair of Advisory Council for Veterans, Chronic Pain Centre of Excellence, University of Ottawa, Chronic Pain Centre of Excellence for Canadian Veterans
Eugene Maida, MB BCh BAO, MBA, FRCPC
Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Department of Anesthesia, McMaster University; Program Director McMaster Chronic Pain Medicine Fellowship; Medical Director, Michael G DeGroote Pain Clinic, Hamilton Health Sciences
Sarah Nelson, PhD
Assistant Professor and Attending Psychologist, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Tom Norris, BA, MPA
Chronic Pain Support Group Facilitator, Board Certified Patient Advocate, American Chronic Pain Association
Melissa Pielech, PhD
Assistant Professor, Brown University School of Public Health, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University; Pediatric Psychologist, Hasbro Children’s Rehabilitation Services & Bradley Vista
Patricia Poulin, BA, MA, Ph.D. Psychology
Psychologist and Clinician Scientist, The Ottawa Hospital; Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, The University of Ottawa
Naiyi Sun, MD
Staff Anesthesiologist and Pain Physician, The Hospital for Sick Children; Assistant Professor, University of Toronto
2025-26 Mayday Fellows
Chen X. Chen, PhD, RN, MBBS, FAAN
Professor & Sorensen Endowed Professor, University of Arizona College of Nursing
Rena “Liz” Courtney, PhD
Program Director, PREVAIL Center for Chronic Pain, Salem VA Health Care System; Faculty, VISN 6 MIRECC; Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
Yenisel Cruz-Almeida, PhD
Professor, Department of Community Dentistry and Behavioral Science (College of Dentistry) and Departments of Neuroscience and Epidemiology (College of Medicine), University of Florida; Associate Director, Pain Research & Intervention Center of Excellence
Natoshia R. Cunningham, PhD
Associate Professor, Pediatric Psychologist, Department of Family Medicine, Michigan State University
Jennifer Daly-Cyr
Co-host of the Action on Pain podcast; Board member, Pain Ontario; Patient Partner, Co-Chair Executive Committee, Chronic Pain Network; People with Lived Experience Committee Vice Chair and National Pain Round Committee member, Canadian Pain Society
Tori Etheridge, B.kin., MPT
Provincial Clinical Lead of Initiatives and Innovation for Pain Care BC; Clinical Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia
Burel Goodin, PhD
Professor of Anesthesiology, Washington University in St. Louis; President of the U.S. Association for the Study of Pain
Simon Haroutounian, PhD, MSc.Pharm
Professor of Anesthesiology, Chief, Division of Clinical and Translational Research, Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine; Chief of Clinical Research, Washington University Pain Center
Lisa LaRowe, PhD
Director of Pain and Symptom Research, Center for Optimal Aging and Serious Illness, Massachusetts General Hospital; Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Justina Marianayagam
Pediatrics Resident Physician, University of British Columbia, BC Children’s Hospital; Co-Chair of the Governance Council, Solutions for Kids in Pain
Gabrielle Pagé, PhD, Rpsych
Associate Professor, Université de Montréal; Principal Scientist, Research Center of the Centre hospitalier de l’Universtié de Montréal
Emily Wakefield, PsyD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Connecticut Children’s & University of Connecticut School of Medicine
Past Fellows
You can view a complete list of past Fellows here.
Advisory Committee
A multi-disciplinary Advisory Committee, comprising leaders working in the United States and Canada, will evaluate applicants with a clear passion for communicating evidence-based pain management strategies or research on basic and translational science to address pain. The Committee seeks those who want to bring their expertise to bear on public discourse, policy discussions, or in support of more research to improve knowledge about and access to pain treatment. The Advisory Committee is selected by the staff of the Mayday Fund in consultation with staff at Burness. Burness is responsible for the recruitment, selection and management of the Fellowship. The Advisory Committee is responsible for the selection of Fellows, and the staff and Board of the Mayday Fund do not weigh in on the selection of Fellows.
Advisory Committee For 2025-2026 Fellowship:
Samina Ali, MD
Professor, Pediatrics & Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta; Chair, Pediatric Emergency Research Canada (PERC); Western Canada Hub Lead, Solutions for Kids in Pain (SKIP); Research Director, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, University of Alberta; 2019 Mayday Fellow
Christine Chambers, PhD, RPsych
Professor, Departments of Psychology & Neuroscience and Pediatrics, Dalhousie University; Scientific Director, Solutions for Kids in Pain (SKIP); 2012 Mayday Fellow
Hance Clarke, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine and Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto; President, Canadian Pain Society; Staff Anesthesiologist, Director Pain Services Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network; Canada Research Chair – Chronic Pain, Mental Health & Substance Use; 2019 Mayday Fellow
Renee C.B. Manworren, PhD, APRN, FAAN
Elizabeth C. Poster Endowed Professor and PhD Program Director, College of Nursing and Health Innovation, The University of Texas at Arlington; 2012 Mayday Fellow
Linda Porter, PhD
Former Director, Office of Pain Policy and Planning, National Institutes of Health; Co-chair, Federal Pain Research Strategy and National Pain Strategy, Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee, National Institutes of Health
Gregory Terman, MD, PhD
Professor, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine and the Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Washington; 2011 Mayday Fellow
Erin Y. Young, PhD
Associate Professor, Anesthesiology, Pain and Perioperative Medicine; Director, Clinician Scientist and Research Track; Medical Student Research Liaison; Department of Anesthesiology, University of Kansas Medical Center; 2019 Mayday Fellow