Program Objectives

The STARS Program aims to train, develop and nurture lung cancer PRAs in the science and realities of lung cancer research. Our goal is to increase the number of PRAs equipped to:

• provide accurate scientific translation in their online activities and/or real-life lung cancer patient/caregiver groups; and
• provide the patient perspective for lung cancer research and policy both nationally (specific to your country) and at a global level. For examples of research and policy activities, please review the FAQ.

Participation Requirements

Requirements of Mentors selected to participate in the 2021 IASLC STARS Program include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Be available to and committed to participating fully in all scheduled program activities;
• Have lung cancer status of cured, stable, or no evidence of disease for at least six months prior to the time of application submission.
• Have at least two years' experience as a patient research advocate.  
• Speak fluent English (all program activities and materials will be in English);
• Be a current member of the IASLC. (Visit www.iaslc.org to join. Membership is free for patients, survivors, and caregivers.);
• Be able to travel to Denver, CO USA for the IASLC STARS Workshop on September 10, 2021 and the 2021 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC 2021), which will be held September 11-14, 2021.
• Hold or obtain a current passport (valid through March 2022) and necessary visas for travel to and from Denver.

How to Apply

Applications are accepted through the IASLC’s Online Nominations and Submissions Portal. You may save your work and return to your application to continue your work or edit your application at any time prior to submission.

Once your application has been submitted, it is no longer editable.

Your completed application must be submitted by [DEADLINE] in order to be considered.

Application Requirements

As part of your application, you will be required to:

• Answer several short answer questions.
• Provide links/URLs to any social media or blog sites that you use for public advocacy.
• Upload an example of a communication you have written or created about lung cancer within the past six months.(For more information, see Communications Sample Requirements section below.)
• Provide the name and email address of an individual (established research advocate or researcher familiar with your advocacy activities) who will provide a letter of recommendation on your behalf. This individual will receive an email containing a link for him/her to use to upload the letter directly into your application, so you may want to start your application by requesting the letter so the author has plenty of time to complete this task. (For more information, see Letter of Recommendation Requirements section below.)

An ACCEPTABLE example of advocacy communications that comply with these requirements:

• Contains content YOU created: a video of a presentation, text of a speech, image of a poster, picture of a newspaper article, screencap of a blog post, or something similar that accurately represents the applicant’s verbal, written, or graphic communication capabilities. 
• Shows ORIGINAL content created by the applicant. DO NOT submit postings you shared of content created by others (e.g., retweets, Instagram images, Facebook shares) -- we want to see how YOU communicate.
• If content is posted online, provide a screen cap image instead of text copied into Word or another application, with the URL visible in the image. DO NOT submit links to online content unless all the content on the page was generated solely to you.
• Includes evidence of when and where the content was published, delivered, or performed -- we must be able to verify your submission.
• Is in a commonly available file format (pdf, jpg, png, mp4, mp4, mov, MS Word) and less than 2 Mb in size.
• Is either in English or accompanied by a faithful English translation.
• DO NOT submit an image of the applicant at an event, meeting, or gathering -- this does not give us a sense of your communications skills.
• DO NOT submit content posted in private groups or websites that require a login, or that reveals identity, medical details, or personal information of others.
• DO NOT submit content that does not publicly identify you as the author -- your advocacy communications must be public.
• DO NOT submit content that does not include educational information about lung cancer. Emotional support content is important but is not part of research advocacy.

An ACCEPTABLE letter of recommendation complies with these requirements:

• IS written by a cancer medical professional, established patient research advocate, or an advocacy organization.
• DOES include the author’s credentials, organization, and contact info
• DOES include the author’s organizational letterhead at the top of the page (if available)
• DOES describe the author’s perception of the applicant’s advocacy and/or research advocacy activities
• DOES describe the author’s assessment of the applicant’s current understanding of lung cancer, science, and research
• DOES describe the author’s relationship and interactions with the applicant
• DOES include information that allows us to verify author’s credentials
• DOES NOT summarize the applicant’s medical condition

Evaluation Criteria

We will evaluate STARS Mentor applicants using the seven criteria below. We do NOT expect every Mentor applicant will have skills in all these areas. Each applicant will likely have strengths and deficits--for instance, formal training in a Focus Topic but limited advocacy experience (such as a researcher), or considerable accomplishments as a research advocate in the US but no knowledge of disparities. That’s OK! Lung cancer is a broad field, and no one can do everything.

We are seeking to build a pool of Mentors that will collectively exemplify all these characteristics:

1. Mentoring skills and experience: Mentoring also requires good listening skills; answering PRA questions on research advocacy, science, and research accurately and clearly; providing guidance; and ability to help a PRA feel welcome and supported. At a minimum, all mentors must demonstrate empathy, patience, ability to accept differences in style and priorities, and availability before, during and after WCLC to spend several hours with PRAs (either online or in person) and attend all required STARS activities.
2. Advocacy accomplishments: Mentors who have demonstrated dedication and experience as advocates or in working with advocates are better able to guide PRAs evolution into becoming research advocates.
3. Research advocacy accomplishments: Mentors need to be able to share their experiences with and concrete examples of research advocacy with PRAs. We expect patient and caregiver Mentors to have at least 2 years’ experience in research advocacy.
4. Communications skills and experience: Mentors must be able to read and speak in English, which is the primary language of many oncology conferences and publications. They must demonstrate they can communicate science and research concepts confidently in an understandable and approachable way.
5. Science and research training and expertise: We want Mentors who have previous training or demonstrated knowledge in key areas of lung cancer science and research. We seek a mix of backgrounds so that the knowledge of the collective Mentor pool covers all the STARS focus areas.
6. Interaction with scientific community: Mentors facilitate PRAs’ connection and communication with lung cancer scientists, clinicians, and key opinion leaders.
7. Knowledge of cancer care disparities: This can be personal, professional, or research experience with national health systems, third world countries, or disparities in accessibility, affordability, and availability of lung cancer care.

2021 STARS Timeline