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Marion Morra, MA, ScD

President, Morra Communications
Associate Professor, Yale School of Nursing

Marion Morra is an internationally recognized expert in cancer control and health communications, with over 25 years of experience working in the community and with cancer patients. She is president of Morra Communications, consultants in health communications and research. Prior to establishing her own firm, she was Associate Director of the Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center, where she was responsible for the Cancer Information Service (CIS), patient education and support and community outreach. She originated the CIS (1-800-CANCER) at Yale in 1975, one of the first offices to be funded by the National Cancer Institute and continues to work with the NCI and with the network offices on projects related to it.

A founding member of the International Cancer Information Services Group (ICISG), and a member of its Board of Directors, she began assisting international partners in setting up CIS offices many years ago, when she assisted in setting up the CIS in Germany. Since that time, Ms. Morra has helped many international organizations with their health information needs -- making presentations, leading seminars, writing and publishing articles, and consulting on Web sites and on setting up CIS offices.

Ms. Morra’s expertise in taking complex medical materials and translating them into language the lay public has allowed her to work in many media. She is the co-author of four best selling patient self-help books. CHOICES: A Sourcebook for Cancer Information, (Avon, 1980, 1987, 1994; HarperCollins, 2003), the first major self-help book for cancer patients and their families to be published; The Prostate Cancer Answer Book, (Avon, 1996); Triumph: Getting Back To Normal When You Have Cancer, (Avon, 1990) and Understanding Your Immune System, (Avon, 1986). Early in her Yale career, she identified the need for, initiated and wrote four patient booklets (Chemotherapy and You, Radiation and You, Eating Hints and Dealing with Pain) and turned their publication rights over to the NCI. Over the years, millions of copies have been distributed free to patients and their families; they continue to be primary sources of information today.

She is Co-Principal Investigator of the Cancer Information Service Research Consortium (CISRC), a nationwide community laboratory for communications research. An established expert in the writing and editing of tailored message materials, she has edited four major individualized tailored message libraries to assure that the information was user-friendly and comprehensible.

Dr. Morra serves as Vice Chair of the American Cancer Society National Board of Directors. She is the author of over 100 peer-reviewed publications.

Last Updated: 8 January 2008