Professor Janice Abbott

Janice leads the Quality of Life Research Group and provides leadership and mentorship to early career researchers and research supervision to PhD students. Her international research in cystic fibrosis has contributed to numerous international impacts and changes in society.

Janice began her research career as a post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Manchester and the Manchester Adults Cystic Fibrosis Centre. Her work has included the development and evaluation of patient-reported outcome measures and longitudinal programmes of research evaluating the psychosocial impacts of disease progression. She has shown that aspects of patient-reported Quality of Life can independently predict survival in people with cystic fibrosis, highlighting the importance of patient-reported outcomes in clinical management and clinical trials. The UK arm of the International Depression and Anxiety Epidemiological Study which highlighted the increased prevalence of depression and anxiety in people with cystic fibrosis (CF) and their caregivers, was co-led by Janice. Subsequently, she was a ‘core group’ member of the International Committee on Mental Health that produced the CF Mental Health Guidelines. She is the Founder and Co-Chair of the European CF Society (ECFS) Mental Health Working Group, leading mental health care across Europe and a member of the US Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Mental Health Advisory Committee. These groups aim to disseminate, monitor and evaluate the implementation of the Mental Health Guidelines to improve the care and quality of life of people with cystic fibrosis and their caregivers. As an Associate Editor of the Journal of Cystic Fibrosis, Janice has handled the psychosocial portfolio for 15 years.