{{Short description|English professor of clinical psychology (1950-2015)}} {{Use British English|date=September 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Jane Wardle | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1950|10|30}} | birth_place = Oxford, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2015|10|20|1950|10|30}} | death_place = {{nowrap| United Kingdom}} | children = Lucy Stirling<br />Matthew Wardle<br />William Steptoe | spouse = Nicholas Stirling (1976–?)<br />{{nowrap|Andrew Steptoe (1991-2015)}} | citizenship = United Kingdom | fields = clinical psychology, behavioral sciences | workplaces = {{Plainlist| * Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London * University College London }} | alma_mater = {{Plainlist| * St Anne's College, Oxford * King's College London}} | doctoral_advisor = | thesis_title = | thesis_year = 1986 | academic_advisors = | influenced = | known_for = health psychology | awards = | signature = }}
'''Jane Wardle''' FBA FMedSci (30 October 1950 – 20 October 2015) was a professor of clinical psychology and director of the Cancer Research UK Health Behaviour Research Centre at University College London. She was one of the pioneers of health psychology in the UK and internationally, known for her seminal work on the contribution of psychology to public health, particularly the role of psychological research in cancer prevention and work on the behavioural and genetic determinants of eating behaviour and obesity.<ref name="NHS News">{{cite news|last=NHS|title=Childhood obesity is 'in the genes'|url=http://www.nhs.uk/news/2007/January08/Pages/Childhoodobesityisgenetic.aspx|accessdate=22 July 2013|newspaper=NHS|date=7 February 2008|archive-date=20 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020194330/http://www.nhs.uk/news/2007/January08/Pages/Childhoodobesityisgenetic.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Wardle was also noted as a public health policy campaigner, and for the frank way she wrote about her own cancer diagnosis.
== Early life ==
Frances Jane Wardle was born in Oxford, England to Marcella (née Brough) and Peter Wardle, a portrait artist, the eldest of four children. The family had little money, moved often, and the parents were frequently unavailable; her mother underwent lengthy hospitalisations due to mental illness and her father, who she "was deeply attached to [..] was often absent", to the point that Jane and her siblings spent several months in a children's home and Jane assumed parental responsibilities early on.<ref name=gobit/>
After a disrupted education involving 13 different schools, she requested admission to Oxford High School, which was granted and was even allowed to live in the house of the headmistress Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock from time to time.<ref name=gobit/> She subsequently studied at St Anne's College, Oxford, graduating with a BA in psychology and physiology in 1973.<ref name="UCL wardle">{{cite web|last=UCL |title=HBRC Prof Jane Wardle |url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hbrc/diet/wardlej.html |work=UCL Department of Epidemiology and Public Health |publisher=University College London |accessdate=22 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130407221732/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hbrc/diet/wardlej.html |archivedate=7 April 2013 }}</ref> She moved to the King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry where she completed training in clinical psychology.<ref name=gobit/>
== Career ==
Wardle was appointed as a lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry in 1976. She completed her PhD in 1986, and in 1987 was promoted to senior lecturer in clinical psychology and consultant clinical psychologist at the Institute of Psychiatry and King's College London. Her tasks were teaching, clinical practice and occasional research. Martin Jarvis, emeritus professor of health psychology, a colleague and friend for 40 years said "I like to think I played a part in persuading her to go on and study whole populations."<ref name=lancet/>
In 1991, she shifted to full-time research when appointed senior scientist at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) Health Behaviour Unit and Reader in clinical psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry.<ref name=lancet>{{cite journal|author1=Geoff Watts|title=Obituary Jane Wardle|journal=The Lancet|date=28 November 2015|volume=386|issue=10009|page=2138|doi=10.1016/s0140-6736(15)01062-4|pmid=26645058|s2cid=42661275|doi-access=free}}</ref>
In 1997, Wardle took over as director of the ICRF Centre for Health Behaviour Research and was responsible for moving it from the Institute of Psychiatry to the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London. When she became director, the Centre had 8 members, but is now{{when|date=November 2015}} the largest concentration of health psychology research in the UK with more than 60 staff.<ref name="UCL HBRC">{{cite web|last=UCL|title=Health Behaviour Research Centre: Introduction|url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hbrc/|work=UCL|publisher=University College London|accessdate=22 July 2013|archive-date=9 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130909062141/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hbrc/|url-status=dead}}</ref> It has core support from three Cancer Research UK programme grants, and additional funding from the MRC, BBSRC, National Institute for Health Research, INRA, and EU FP7.
Jane Wardle was founding editor of the British Journal of Health Psychology,<ref name=Weiner>{{cite book|last=Weiner|first=Irving B|title=Handbook of Psychology|year=2013|publisher=John Wily & Sons, Inc.|location=Hoboken, New Jersey|isbn=9781118337400|page=497|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZQaRWnNMeEC&q=Formalization+of+the+Field+Within+Psychology+wardle}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=November 2015}} and was on the editorial board of 8 international journals.{{citation needed|date=November 2015}} She continued her involvement with the development of health psychology, and was Chair of the Division of Health Psychology of the British Psychological Society from 2000 to 2001.{{citation needed|date=November 2015}}
== Research ==
Wardle made significant contributions to several fields of research, but three are particularly notable. First, she was influential in applying psychological methods in cancer research, specifically in understanding the uptake of cancer screening, early detection, the acceptability of prevention methods, and the development of theoretically-driven interventions designed to improve screening participation, particularly in underprivileged groups.<ref name=Pritchard-Jones>{{cite news|last=Pritchard-Jones|first=Kathy|title=How clinicians are driving innovation in cancer care|url=http://www.hsj.co.uk/home/commissioning/how-clinicians-are-driving-innovation-in-cancer-care/5058875.article|accessdate=22 July 2013|newspaper=Health Service Journal|date=30 May 2013}}</ref> Her work on increasing public acceptability of human papillomavirus vaccination paved the way for the national vaccination programme, and she was a key member of the team that established the value of flexible sigmoidoscopy for the prevention of colorectal cancer.<ref name="Sigmoidoscopy Screening">{{cite web|last=Cancer Screening|first=NHS|title=UK Flexible Sigmoidoscopy Screening Trial|url=http://www.cancerscreening.nhs.uk/bowel/uk-flexible-sigmoidoscopy-screening-trial-slides.pdf|publisher=Imperial College London|accessdate=15 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124062618/http://www.cancerscreening.nhs.uk/bowel/uk-flexible-sigmoidoscopy-screening-trial-slides.pdf|archive-date=24 January 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> This work led to a change in national screening policy. Her contributions to this field were reflected in her appointment as deputy director of the Department of Health Policy Research Unit on cancer awareness, screening and early diagnosis.<ref name="HBRC Introduction">{{cite web|last=Ghanouni|first=Alex|title=HBRC > Screening > Introduction|url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hbrc/screening/summary.html|work=UCL|publisher=University College London|accessdate=22 July 2013}}</ref>
A second major theme of her research was eating behaviour and obesity. Her work highlighted the importance of eating styles (notably satiety sensitivity) and established that the FTO gene contributes to obesity in part through effects on eating behaviour styles.<ref name="King's College News">{{cite news|last=Department|first=Public Relations|title=Obesity gene works by influencing appetite|url=http://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/news_details.php?news_id=868&year=2008|accessdate=22 July 2013|newspaper=King's College London News|date=29 July 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110508104615/http://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/news_details.php?year=2008&news_id=868|archive-date=8 May 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> This stimulated Wardle to set up a new population-based twin cohort to investigate diet, physical activity and weight from birth to 5 years.<ref name="Gemini Study webpage">{{cite web|last=Gemini |title=Gemini Twin Study |url=http://www.healthattitudes.co.uk/gemweb/default.asp |publisher=Health Attitudes UK |accessdate=15 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140910221317/http://www.healthattitudes.co.uk/gemweb/default.asp |archivedate=10 September 2014 }}</ref><ref name="BBC News Obesity may be largely genetic">{{cite news|last=BBC|title=Obesity 'may be largely genetic'|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7230065.stm|access-date=22 July 2013|newspaper=BBC News|date=7 February 2008}}</ref> Her research on eating behaviour in children combined large scale observational studies with experimental intervention studies, and led to the development of new methods of promoting fruit and vegetable consumption in children. Work on food choice in adults includes the development of key measures of motives for food choice and nutrition knowledge, together with the formulation of novel habit-based interventions that are being tested for weight management in overweight and obese adults in primary care clinical trials.{{citation needed|date=November 2015}}
A third area of research was the role of positive well-being and positive affect in physical health, and involved epidemiological studies of positive affect and survival, together with more detailed work on the biological correlates of positive well-being.{{citation needed|date=November 2015}}
She contributed to several other topics, including the investigation of the influence of socioeconomic status and stress on behaviours such as physical activity, smoking and food choice,<ref name="Wellcome Collection">{{cite web|last=Collection |first=Wellcome |title=Jane Wardle on food |url=http://www.wellcomecollection.org/whats-on/events/packed-lunch-podcast/food.aspx |work=Wellcome Collection |accessdate=22 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511175014/http://www.wellcomecollection.org/whats-on/events/packed-lunch-podcast/food.aspx |archivedate=11 May 2013 }}</ref> and international studies of health behaviour in young people.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/psychobiology/research/ihbsdetails |title=International Health and Behaviour Survey |work=ucl.ac.uk |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130318131906/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/psychobiology/research/ihbsdetails |archivedate=18 March 2013 }}</ref><ref name="UCL IHBS">{{cite web|last=UCL |title=International Health and Behaviour Survey |url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/psychobiology/research/ihbsdetails |work=UCL |publisher=University College London |accessdate=22 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130318131906/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/psychobiology/research/ihbsdetails |archivedate=18 March 2013 }}</ref>
== Policy advocacy == As a campaigner, Wardle sought to ensure the insights from health psychology research were translated into effective public health policy. Wardle set up a charity called Weight Concern in 1997 to tackle the rising problem of obesity;<ref name="Weight Concern">{{cite web|title=Weight Concern|url=http://www.weightconcern.org.uk/|publisher=Weight Concern|accessdate=22 July 2013}}</ref> which won the Best New Charity Award in 2002,<ref name="About Weight Concern">{{cite web|title=About Weight Concern|url=http://www.weightconcern.org.uk/node/1|work=Weight Concern|date=n.d.|accessdate=22 July 2013|archive-date=27 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727223629/http://weightconcern.org.uk/node/1|url-status=dead}}</ref> and is continuing to offer support and advice to individuals and the UK NHS.<ref name="NHS Choices How your GP can help">{{cite web|title=How your GP can help|url=http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/loseweight/Pages/WhataGPcando.aspx|work=NHS Choices|accessdate=22 July 2013}}</ref> In 2009, Wardle appeared in BBC Horizon: Why Are Thin People Not Fat? (season 45, episode 8), a documentary which examined why some people manage to stay slim while the world is being affected by an obesity epidemic. In it, she explored whether eating habits are genetic or learned.{{citation needed|date=November 2015}}
== Honours ==
*1989 Fellow, British Psychological Society<ref name="Academia Europaea" /> *2004 Fellow, Academy of Social Sciences<ref name="Academia Europaea">{{cite web|title=Jane Wardle|url=http://www.ae-info.org/ae/User/Wardle_Jane|work=Academia Europaea|accessdate=22 July 2013}}</ref> *2005 Fellow, Society for Behavioral Medicine<ref name="Academia Europaea" /> *2007 Member, Academia Europaea<ref name="Academia Europaea" /> *2007 Fellow, Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research<ref name="Academia Europaea" /> *2011 Fellow, Association for Psychological Science<ref name="Academia Europaea" /> *2012 Fellow, Academy of Medical Sciences<ref name="Academia Europaea" /> *2013 Fellow, British Academy<ref>British Academy [http://www.britac.ac.uk/fellowship/elections/index.cfm?member=24652 Elections to the Fellowship Professor Jane Wardle] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208152656/http://www.britac.ac.uk/fellowship/elections/index.cfm?member=24652 |date= 8 December 2015 }} not dated, accessed 27 November 2015</ref> *2014 Award, British Psychological Society, for outstanding contributions to research<ref name=gobit/>
== Personal life ==
In 1976 Wardle married Nicholas Stirling, with whom she had daughter Lucy Stirling, and later divorced from. In 1991 she married Andrew Steptoe, had son Matthew Wardle and adopted stepson William Steptoe.<ref name=gobit/> She lived in Marylebone, London.{{citation needed|date=November 2015}}
Wardle was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia at the age of 46, three months after taking over as director of a unit carrying out psychological research into the prevention of cancer. She wrote with frankness about how she reacted to the diagnosis, which was left on her answering machine, and how she initially coped by regressing "to the 'sex, drugs and rock'n'roll' of my youth in the Sixties".<ref>Jane Wardle [https://www.theguardian.com/education/2002/mar/17/medicalscience.features Physician, heal thyself] The Guardian, 17 March 2002, accessed 27 November 2015</ref>
She died from complications of the disease on 20 October 2015, almost 20 years after her diagnosis, survived by husband, Andrew Steptoe, her children, 3 grandchildren and her father Peter Wardle.<ref name=gobit>Martin Jarvis [https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/nov/24/jane-wardle Jane Wardle obituary] The Guardian, 24 November 2015, accessed 27 November 2015</ref><ref>Sara Hiom [http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2015/10/23/professor-jane-wardle-30101950-20102015/ A tribute to Professor Jane Wardle] Science blog, Cancer Research UK, 23 October 2015, accessed 27 November 2015</ref>
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hbrc/diet/wardlej.html Jane Wardle] University College London
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wardle, Jane}} Category:1950 births Category:2015 deaths Category:English psychologists Category:Alumni of King's College London Category:Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford Category:Fellows of the British Psychological Society Category:Members of Academia Europaea Category:Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Category:Academics of University College London