The sudden and untimely death of Janice Brown, senior lecturer in the School of Health Sciences, is a profound loss for her family, friends, colleagues and students in Southampton, and for everyone concerned with improving the care of those affected by life-limiting neurological conditions.
Janice spent much of her career working to improve care for people with diseases such as Motor Neurone Disease (MND), starting back in the 1980s when she was a ward sister at the Wessex Neurological Centre.
In later years, her academic research focused on understanding the experiences of patients and their families, and developing ways to lessen the psycho-social impact on them. The first paper from her post-doctoral fellowship was published at the beginning of 2008 to acclaim from experts in the field. Although she had already had a significant impact on the lives of people with neurological conditions, through her strong advocacy for raising standards of care for people with neurological conditions and their families, and her campaigning for health and social care research – also demonstrating how it could be done.
She was increasingly recognised for her expertise in the UK and abroad. She had been invited to join the National Council for Palliative Care’s Neurological Group and played a major role in writing and disseminating its integrated care pathway for neurological illness. She had also recently joined the European Association of Palliative Care’s Neurological Task Force.
Janice was a warm and generous person who brought her characteristic enthusiasm, commitment, compassion, intellectual rigour and humour to everything. She had a clear vision of the distinct contribution of nursing and the importance of client-centred care. She applied her considerable intellectual abilities and rigour to analysing key concepts in nursing practice such as caring, ethics and evidence-based practice. Her expertise and commitment to these issues is evident in the 2006 textbook she co-edited on the ‘Principles of Professional Studies in Nursing’ (Palgrave Macmillan).
She was skilled at analysing new educational concepts and translating them into practical application. The work she led in the School on academic validation of prior and experiential learning (APEL) was one of the first such schemes in the country. She also demonstrated clear leadership skills and strategic thinking, both evident in the revision she led in 2003-4 of the structure of the Masters provision in the School, including the development and validation of a new award in Leadership and Management of Health and Social Care – the first award in the School to cross this boundary. These skills were also evident in her recent leadership of the narrative theme of the national ‘Cancer Experiences’ supportive and palliative care research collaborative.
Janice began her nursing career in London, where she qualified as an RGN at Barts in 1980. Her academic nursing career started in Southampton in 1989 after five years as a ward sister; initially as a nurse teacher in the Southampton University College of Nursing, then a lecturer and later, senior lecturer, in the University’s School of Nursing and Midwifery. She was Head of the Continuing Care Academic Division from 1999-2004.
She obtained a first-class degree in Nursing Studies from Bournemouth University in 1991, her PhD from the School of Education in 2000, and held a prestigious Health Foundation Research Training Fellowship from 2005-2008.
Despite her professional successes, Janice’s life was not restricted to work but centred on her beloved family: Bill, her husband of 12 years, their young children Katie and Will, and Bertie, her cocker spaniel. Janice loved hill-walking in Cumbria and Yorkshire, travelling the world, black ski runs, family barbeque breakfasts in the New Forest, good food, loud music around the house (especially Abba) and playing the piano.
She was a loyal and much-loved friend of many, but most of all she loved her family. We extend our deepest condolences to them all in their, and our, sad and sudden loss.
Julia Addington-Hall,
School of Health Sciences