Professor John Weinman awarded Honorary Fellowship of the British Psychological Society
John Weinman, Professor of Psychology as applied to Medicine at the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) at King’s, has been awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the British Psychological Society (BPS).
Professor Weinman has played a major role in the development of academic and professional health psychology in the UK and is one of the world’s leading academics on the subject.
In honour of his nomination Professor Pam Maras, BPS Honorary General Secretary, said: ‘Professor Weinman has always been an excellent ambassador for health psychology and all aspects of applied psychology. He was enormously influential in determining the content of UK Health Psychology training and shaping the developing profession. Awarding him with an Honorary Fellowship is a fitting recognition of his outstanding and influential contribution to the discipline.’
His incredibly influential theoretical and applied work on self-management of chronic illness has inspired a whole generation of health psychologists, as well as influencing the thinking and practice of other health care professionals. This work has led to the development of interventions and therapies to improve patient outcomes across a range of medical conditions. Professor Weinman has made important contributions to many fields, and among other highlights are his work on wound healing, recovery from surgery and communication and decision-making in health care.
Widely acknowledged as one of the founding editors of the International Journal: Psychology and Health, Professor Weinman has published extensively on the subject of health psychology. In 1986, together with Marie Johnston, he set up the Health Psychology Division of the BPS and in 1988 with colleagues created one of the first three accredited UK Health Psychology courses.
On receiving the award Professor Weinman said ‘I am deeply honoured to receive this prestigious award from the British Psychological Society, and I felt both very proud and rather daunted when I saw the names of the other 27 current BPS honorary fellows’.
Professor Weinman’s outstanding academic achievements have been recognised by the award of an Honorary DSc from the University of Brighton, Honorary Professorships at the Universities of Aarhus and Galway, and Fellowships of the BPS, the Academy of Behavioural Medicine Research (US) and the European Health Psychology Society.
(Alison Wearden, Kavita Vedhara, 3rd Feb 2011)