Professor Phyllis Butow, BA (Hons) Dip Ed; MPH, M Clin Psych, PhD, has worked for over 20 years in the area of Psycho-Oncology and has developed an international reputation in this and the area of health communication. She is currently Professor and NHMRC Senior Principle Research Fellow at the School of Psychology, University of Sydney. She directs the Centre for Medical Psychology and Evidence-based Decision-making (CeMPED), and chairs the Australian Psycho-Oncology Co-operative Research Group. She chairs the Communication Skills Advisory Group of the National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre and has taken a leading role in Australia in promoting and facilitating communication skills training for Oncology health professionals. Much of her research concerns the impact of communication strategies on doctor and patient outcomes, and this has been translated into a number of communication skills modules for cancer health professions. Prof Butow has over 300 publications in peer reviewed journals, most of which relate to psychological issues in cancer.