Professor Rona Moss-Morris

Biography

Rona Moss-Morris is Professor of Psychology as Applied to Medicine and Head of the Department of Psychology at the Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience, King’s College London. She is Theme Lead for Digital Therapies at the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre.

She has been researching psychological factors that affect symptom experience and adjusting to chronic medical conditions, including multiple sclerosis for the past 30 years. This research has been used to design cognitive behavioural interventions, including digital interventions, for a range of patient groups. RCTs to test the clinical and cost effectiveness of these interventions form a key component of her research.

In 2015 she was awarded the British Psychological Society Division of Health Psychology’s Outstanding Contribution to Research Award and in 2020 the British Psychological Society Distinguished Contribution to Practice Award. Her team's work on Multiple Sclerosis (MS) was awarded the MS Society Annual Award for MS Research of the Year in 2013 and the work on irritable bowel syndrome, the King’s Excellence in Innovation and Impact Award in 2019.  She was National Advisor to NHS England for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies for People with Long Term and Medically Unexplained conditions from 2011-2016.  She is a past editor of Psychology and Health and current editor of Health Psychology Review. 

Research Interests: 

• Models which help us conceptualise and treat conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and post concussion syndrome. 
• Understanding adjustment to long term physical illness from both patient and family perspectives. Developing and evaluating self-management CBT based interventions for people with long term conditions including 
• Multiple sclerosis .
• Irritable bowel syndrome IBS and CFS. 
• Inflammatory Bowel disease  
• Developing ways to measure people's perceptions and responses to their symptoms and illnesses. More details of the Illness Perception Questionnaire can be found here.

Teaching:

• MSc Health Psychology 
• IAPT for long term conditions 
• iBSc in Psychology  

Expertise and Public Engagement:

• Editor Health Psychology Review.
• Past Editor Psychology and Health.
• National Advisor to NHS England for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies for People with Long Term and Medically Unexplained conditions from 2011-2016. 
• NIHR Programme Grants for Applied Research subpanel member from 2014 -2019
• Ambassador to the Multiple Sclerosis Society and past grant panel member