Dr Frances Cole was a GP and pain rehabilitation specialist. She developed the first UK primary and community care pain rehabilitation programme based on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) principles in 1996. She developed a pain health needs assessment tool that won an NHS Modernisation award in 2005 and gained an NHS National Clinical Leaders Award in 2011. Frances is a past chair of the British Pain Society Pain Management Programme Special Interest Group whose current focus is on multidisciplinary pain management.
Her current work is on digital self-management tools for pain including apps.
Helen Macdonald is a cognitive behavioural psychotherapist and university lecturer specialising in pain management. She obtained a Master's Degree in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy, with a dissertation examining the effectiveness of assisted self-help for chronic pain. She was recognized as a Chartered Health Psychologist in 2004.
Catherine Carus is a registered physiotherapist currently teaching at the University of Bradford, and she specializes in the assessment and management of musculoskeletal conditions.
Hazel Howden-Leach is the author of Overcoming Chronic Pain, along with Frances Cole, Helen Macdonald and Catherine Carus.
She works at the University of Liverpool's School of Tropical Medicine as Educational Technologist/Technical Advisor, with respect to the development of health-related educational materials.