Two faculty members from WashU Medicine’s Department of Anesthesiology in the Washington University Pain Center—Burel R. Goodin, PhD, and Simon Haroutounian, PhD, MSc—have been selected for the 2025 cohort of the Mayday Pain & Society Fellowship: Communicating Science & Improving Care.
The Mayday Fellowship, supported by the MAYDAY Fund, is designed to equip experts in pain care and research with strategic communication and advocacy skills to amplify the impact of their work. This year’s cohort includes 12 professionals from across the U.S. and Canada, representing diverse fields such as psychology, epidemiology, physiotherapy, pharmacy and more. Fellows were chosen from a highly competitive pool of applicants by a multidisciplinary advisory committee of leaders in pain science and policy.
Goodin, the President of the U.S. Association for the Study of Pain, leads the Translational Research to Advance Pain Science (TRAPS) Laboratory, which specializes in pain-related behavioral medicine. His research explores how mental, emotional, and biological factors, like stress hormones and immune system responses, affect how people experience pain.
Haroutounian, who also serves as the chief of clinical pain research and the chief of the Division of Clinical and Translational Research, centers his research on chronic pain, with a strong emphasis on ways to turn lab discoveries in to real-world treatments tailored to each patient. His work seeks to understand how and when chronic pain develops—and how to prevent it or treat it more precisely.
As Fellows, Goodin and Haroutounian will participate in a communications training workshop held in Washington, D.C., from November 2–5, 2025. During the intensive program, fellows will learn skills to effectively communicate and advocate for the translation of scientific research and evidence-based best practices in pain care and management. Following the workshop, the fellows will receive individualized, follow-up coaching to help them pursue their strategic advocacy goals.
“It’s a tremendous honor to have not just one, but two members of our department selected for the Mayday Fellowship this year,” said Robert Gereau, PhD, the Dr. Seymour & Rose T. Brown Professor of Anesthesiology and vice chair for research in the Department of Anesthesiology. “It’s quite rare for a single institution to be represented twice in the same cohort, and it speaks volumes about the caliber of pain research and advocacy happening at WashU Medicine.”
For more information about the Mayday Fellowship and the 2025 cohort, please visit the official Mayday Fellowship website.