Jane Wardle

Abstract

Clinical psychologist who specialised in health behaviours. She was born in Oxford, UK, on Oct 30, 1950, and died from chronic lymphocytic leukaemia in London, UK, on Oct 20, 2015, aged 64 years.Writing in 2002 about the chronic lymphocytic leukaemia that has now ended her life, Jane Wardle described how she learned of its advent in the most brutal way imaginable: from a message on her answering machine. The hospital, confused by the “Dr” in front of her name, had phoned through a test result to what they thought was her general practitioner's surgery. The irony of this, she pointed out, was that she'd recently been appointed Director of the Health Behaviour Research Centre at University College London (UCL). Much of her work, then and since, was focused on psychological aspects of preventing and dealing with cancer. It was a field she helped to build, and in which she established a pre-eminent reputation.Wardle studied psychology and physiology at Oxford University. She graduated in 1973, moved to the Institute of Psychiatry in London where she did a master's in clinical psychology and then joined the staff as a lecturer and, in due course, a clinical consultant. Martin Jarvis, Emeritus Professor of Health Psychology at UCL, was a colleague and friend for 40 years. “At that time her interests were primarily in teaching and in her extensive clinical practice with individuals”, he says. “I like to think I played a part in persuading her to go on and study whole populations.” 1991 found Wardle taking on the role of Assistant Director of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) Health Behaviour Unit. The unit moved from the Institute of Psychiatry to UCL in 1996 and became the Health Behaviour Research Centre with Wardle as its Director. “It was a productive move”, says Jarvis. “The unit flourished under her leadership.”Over the years she became involved in many kinds of study from weight control to the attitude of parents towards prepubertal human papillomavirus vaccination, as well as the public awareness of cancer. Always concerned not only to unearth new findings but to see them applied, her work paved the way for the introduction of the HPV vaccine and of a scheme for boosting cancer awareness and earlier diagnosis.One researcher she collaborated with was Wendy Atkin, Professor of Gastrointestinal Epidemiology in the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College London. They met 20 years ago when Atkin was planning a once-only flexible sigmoidoscopy screening trial for colorectal cancer. “Jane already had a reputation for being an expert in the uptake of screening, and I felt I needed somebody in the trial who understood patients' perspectives”, Atkin recalls. “She was really amazing in her grasp of how to put together the information you need to impart to people when you're asking them to take part in something quite unfamiliar.” The result was an unexpectedly high response rate to the initial invitation. And it was not only patients that Wardle knew how to approach. In a study of the relation between deprivation and uptake of screening services, she and Atkin wrote to every general practitioner in the UK. An astounding 80% agreed to endorse the project.Although impressed by the many specific projects in which she had a role, it's Wardle's overall contribution to psychology that Jarvis identifies as most valuable. “Her greatest achievement was in bringing real scientific rigour to behavioural science”, he says. The old ICRF—now part of Cancer Research UK—had leant heavily towards cell and molecular biology; the existence within it of the Health Behaviour Unit was anomalous and, in the view of some ICRF staff, not even proper science. Wardle was well able not only to see off an existential threat to the unit, but also to convince doubters that its work was rightly to be regarded as within mainstream science.“Jane was very bright, with a quick incisive mind”, says Jarvis. “But everything she did had fun in it. She was irreverent, she loved to gossip.” The leukaemia of which she has now died turned out to be an indolent form of the disease, and never stopped her working. Indeed, she remained active until the end. In the course of her life she oversaw no fewer than 40 completed PhDs, and generated some 700 publications. As Jarvis reflects, “The speed of her work and its quality seemed to get higher and higher over the years”. Wardle leaves a husband, psychologist Andrew Steptoe, also of UCL, a daughter, a son, and a stepson. Clinical psychologist who specialised in health behaviours. She was born in Oxford, UK, on Oct 30, 1950, and died from chronic lymphocytic leukaemia in London, UK, on Oct 20, 2015, aged 64 years. Writing in 2002 about the chronic lymphocytic leukaemia that has now ended her life, Jane Wardle described how she learned of its advent in the most brutal way imaginable: from a message on her answering machine. The hospital, confused by the “Dr” in front of her name, had phoned through a test result to what they thought was her general practitioner's surgery. The irony of this, she pointed out, was that she'd recently been appointed Director of the Health Behaviour Research Centre at University College London (UCL). Much of her work, then and since, was focused on psychological aspects of preventing and dealing with cancer. It was a field she helped to build, and in which she established a pre-eminent reputation. Wardle studied psychology and physiology at Oxford University. She graduated in 1973, moved to the Institute of Psychiatry in London where she did a master's in clinical psychology and then joined the staff as a lecturer and, in due course, a clinical consultant. Martin Jarvis, Emeritus Professor of Health Psychology at UCL, was a colleague and friend for 40 years. “At that time her interests were primarily in teaching and in her extensive clinical practice with individuals”, he says. “I like to think I played a part in persuading her to go on and study whole populations.” 1991 found Wardle taking on the role of Assistant Director of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) Health Behaviour Unit. The unit moved from the Institute of Psychiatry to UCL in 1996 and became the Health Behaviour Research Centre with Wardle as its Director. “It was a productive move”, says Jarvis. “The unit flourished under her leadership.” Over the years she became involved in many kinds of study from weight control to the attitude of parents towards prepubertal human papillomavirus vaccination, as well as the public awareness of cancer. Always concerned not only to unearth new findings but to see them applied, her work paved the way for the introduction of the HPV vaccine and of a scheme for boosting cancer awareness and earlier diagnosis. One researcher she collaborated with was Wendy Atkin, Professor of Gastrointestinal Epidemiology in the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College London. They met 20 years ago when Atkin was planning a once-only flexible sigmoidoscopy screening trial for colorectal cancer. “Jane already had a reputation for being an expert in the uptake of screening, and I felt I needed somebody in the trial who understood patients' perspectives”, Atkin recalls. “She was really amazing in her grasp of how to put together the information you need to impart to people when you're asking them to take part in something quite unfamiliar.” The result was an unexpectedly high response rate to the initial invitation. And it was not only patients that Wardle knew how to approach. In a study of the relation between deprivation and uptake of screening services, she and Atkin wrote to every general practitioner in the UK. An astounding 80% agreed to endorse the project. Although impressed by the many specific projects in which she had a role, it's Wardle's overall contribution to psychology that Jarvis identifies as most valuable. “Her greatest achievement was in bringing real scientific rigour to behavioural science”, he says. The old ICRF—now part of Cancer Research UK—had leant heavily towards cell and molecular biology; the existence within it of the Health Behaviour Unit was anomalous and, in the view of some ICRF staff, not even proper science. Wardle was well able not only to see off an existential threat to the unit, but also to convince doubters that its work was rightly to be regarded as within mainstream science. “Jane was very bright, with a quick incisive mind”, says Jarvis. “But everything she did had fun in it. She was irreverent, she loved to gossip.” The leukaemia of which she has now died turned out to be an indolent form of the disease, and never stopped her working. Indeed, she remained active until the end. In the course of her life she oversaw no fewer than 40 completed PhDs, and generated some 700 publications. As Jarvis reflects, “The speed of her work and its quality seemed to get higher and higher over the years”. Wardle leaves a husband, psychologist Andrew Steptoe, also of UCL, a daughter, a son, and a stepson.