Jan’s academic career and training began with the award of a BSc (Hons) degree in Biochemistry followed by a PhD in Biochemistry studying the role that short proteins called peptides in health and disease at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School that now forms part of the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London. Thereafter, Jan secured over 8 years postdoctoral experience at both the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now Cancer Research UK) and at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (affiliated with University College London) working on mechanisms by which lipids control cell division in response to growth factors and in cancer.

In 1998 Jan was appointed to a faculty position as a Lecturer in the Renal Section at Imperial College London where he developed his own research group investigating the role of growth factors in disease.

In 2010 Jan joined the University of Bedfordshire as the Head of Life Sciences and successfully built up both staff and student numbers. After 4 years he secured the post as Acting Executive Dean of the Faculty of Creative Arts Technologies and Science and 16 months later was appointed to the post on a substantive basis. In his role Jan is responsible for 6 Schools that deliver teaching and learning and 4 Research Institutes.

Most recently he played a leading role in the development of a suite of new STEM courses and was on the Project board responsible for the development and delivery of a £40m STEM building on the Luton campus. University wide responsibilities include Chair of the External Examiner Committee and Chair of the Timetable Strategy Group. Externally, he currently serves as Chair of the UK Deans of Science Committee.