Sally Thorne is Professor and Director of the School of Nursing at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Her programme of substantive research focuses on human experiences with chronic illness and cancer, especially as it is shaped by the structural and ideological underpinnings of the health care system. She applies her expertise in the application of qualitative research methodologies to critical reflection on the nature of the knowledge claims upon which evidence-based health care decisions are generated within the current policy context. As academic and administrative head of one of Canada’s leading researchintensive academic nursing programmes, she plays an active part in nursing leadership initiatives provincially, nationally, and internationally.

Debbie Kralik is Director of the Research Unit of the Royal District Nursing Service in South Australia. She has Adjunct Associate Professor appointments at the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia. In collaboration with members of her research team, Debbie has developed a chronic illness research programme that has spanned more than a decade and consists of more than 60 individual research projects. Debbie is editor of the Journal of Advanced Nursing and the Journal of Nursing and Healthcare of Chronic Illness.

Alison Richardson provides strategic leadership for cancer and palliative nursing education and research activity at King’s College, London, England. She leads a research and development programme focussed on the assessment and management of symptoms (particularly cancerrelated fatigue), support and selfmanagement needs of people affected by cancer, and the nature of cancer and palliative nursing work. She is currently involved in work with the Cancer Action Team to develop a national framework by which health care professional can assess the needs of patients with cancer as well as work focussing on improving in-patient cancer care.

Donna Berry holds a clinical appointment as the first nurse researcher at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. She has pioneered research in two important areas: patient-centred oncology care and nursing leadership within oncology research. To implement her patient-centred care paradigm, she formulated and led an interdisciplinary team to successfully design and implement accessible, computerized tools to assess symptom experiences and quality of life. She has led another large, multi-disciplinary team to develop, produce and test the first and only Internet intervention based on personal factors to support treatment decisionmaking by men with prostate cancer.