Maggie Watson joined the Royal Marsden Hospital and Institute of Cancer Research, the world’s largest cancer treatment and research centre, in 1986, as Cancer Research UK Research Fellow. She worked on studies linked to psychological therapies, psychological response and survival, screening and quality of life in cancer patients. In 1988 she qualified as a Clinical Psychologist and in 1991 was appointed Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the Royal Marsden Hospital. She was appointed Head of Service in 2003 and became an Honorary Professor in the Research Department of Clinical, Health and Educational Psychology University College London in 2008. She has worked consistently since 1979 with cancer patients and has published widely in this area. In 1983 she co-founded the British Psychosocial Oncology Society. She has been Co-Editor, alongside Professor Jimmie Holland, of Psycho-oncology since it was established in 1992. She has been author/editor of five books including Counselling People with Cancer (Burton M & Watson M, Wiley). She is a practicing therapist specialising in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Problem-focussed Therapy and an active researcher. She is currently Vice-President of the International Psycho-oncology Society (taking over as President in 2010 for two years) and Co-Chair of the society's publications' panel.

David Kissane is an academic consultation-liaison psychiatrist, psycho-oncologist and psychotherapy researcher in cancer and palliative care. In 1996, he launched Diplomas of Palliative Medicine and Psycho-Oncology at the University of Melbourne during his tenure as foundation Professor and Director of Palliative Medicine. In 2003, he moved to succeed Dr Jimmie Holland, MD, as Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He is the incumbent in the Jimmie C. Holland Chair in Psycho-Oncology, Attending Psychiatrist at The Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases, and Professor of Psychiatry at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He is a past President of the International Psycho-Oncology Society (2000-03) and recipient of their Arthur Sutherland Award for Lifetime Achievement in Psycho-oncology in 2008. His academic interests include health communication skills; couple, group and family psychotherapy trials; studies of existential distress; and the ethics of end-of-life care. He is the author of over 150 publications, including two books, Family Focused Grief Therapy (2002) and Handbook of Communication in Oncology and Palliative Care (2009). At Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, he has established a state-of-the-art Communication Skills Training and Research Laboratory and a Psychotherapy Research Laboratory. He is Principal Investigator on a range of studies, including dose intensity studies of family therapy in advanced cancer, intimacy-enhancing couples therapy in prostate cancer, facilitation skills development and communication skills training for communication about survivorship, genetic risk, and end-of-life care.