Antonella Surbone is a medical oncologist working in Italy and the US. Together with Professor Zwitter and Richard Stiefel, she authored and edited the 1997 New York Academy of Sciences volume Communication with the Cancer Patient: Information and truth, which inspired her further work and this present book.

Matjaz Zwitter is a radiation oncologist with a long-term interest in lung cancer, Hodgkin's disease, and medical ethics. In addition, he serves as Professor of Medical Ethics at the Medical School, University of Maribor, Slovenia.

Mirjana Rajer is a medical oncology student at the Institute of Oncology, Ljubljana. She is involved in clinical research in lung cancer and conducts research in cancer-patient communication, with special emphasis on the impact of media and the Internet on patient-physician communication.

Richard Stiefel first worked with Drs. Surbone and Zwitter during his twenty years as Associate Editor of the Annals of The New York Academy of Sciences. He has had a parallel career as Lecturer in Music Theory at Hunter College of the City University of New York.