David W. Kissane is an academic consultation-liaison psychiatrist, psycho-oncologist and psychotherapy researcher in cancer and palliative care. 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. 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.

Mario Maj is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Naples, Italy. President of the World Psychiatric Association. Formerly President of the Italian Psychiatric Association; President of the Italian Society of Biological Psychiatry (since 1990); Secretary-General of the Association of European Psychiatrists (2001-2002); President of the Association of European Psychiatrists (2002). He is the Italian psychiatrist with the highest number of citations in indexed journals in the period 1981-2008.

Norman Sartorius, Association for the Improvement of Mental Health Programmes, Geneva, Switzerland. Professor Sartorius is President of the International Association for the Promotion of Mental Health Programmes. Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists and of the American College of Psychiatry; Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. Member of the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Mental Health. Member of WPA Council.