Jan has a BSc Hons in Psychology, a PhD in Sociology, a Postgraduate certificate in Higher Education, she is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a graduate member of the British Psychological Society. She began her academic career at the University of Sheffield and was employed there for 15 years in the School of Clinical Dentistry, teaching across the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health.  Her main focus is marginalised groups and health, which is grounded in Disability Studies thinking.  She has led and lectured on large modules, developed programmes and supervised 32 Masters students and 7 PhD students to completion. Her interests are disability, marginalised groups, mental health, psychosocial resilience and her methodological expertise is in qualitative research methods. She reviews for numerous journals, the World Health Organisation and the NIHR. Jan joined Manchester in 2020 as a researcher.