21 Facts About Jane Wardle

Jane Wardle FBA FMedSci was a professor of clinical psychology and director of the Cancer Research UK Health Behaviour Research Centre at University College London.

Jane Wardle 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.

Frances Jane Wardle was born in Oxford, England to Marcella and Peter Wardle, a portrait artist, the eldest of four children.

Jane Wardle subsequently studied at St Anne's College, Oxford, graduating with a BA in psychology and physiology in 1973.

Jane Wardle moved to the King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry where she completed training in clinical psychology.

Jane Wardle was appointed as lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry in 1976.

Jane Wardle 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.

Jane Wardle's tasks were teaching, clinical practice and occasional research.

In 1997, Jane 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.

Jane Wardle was founding editor of the British Journal of Health Psychology, and was on the editorial board of 8 international journals.

Jane Wardle 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.

Jane Wardle has made significant contributions to several fields of research, but three are particularly notable.

Jane Wardle's 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.

Jane Wardle's work highlighted the importance of eating styles and established that the FTO gene contributes to obesity in part through effects on eating behaviour styles.

Jane Wardle 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, and international studies of health behaviour in young people.

Jane Wardle set up a charity called Weight Concern in 1997 to tackle the rising problem of obesity; which won the Best New Charity Award in 2002, and is continuing to offer support and advice to individuals and the UK NHS.

In 1976 Jane Wardle married Nicholas Stirling, with whom she had daughter Lucy Stirling, and later divorced from.

In 1991 she married Andrew Steptoe, had son Matthew Jane Wardle and adopted stepson William Steptoe.

Jane 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.

Jane Wardle 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".

Jane Wardle 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.