A short interview with Professor Jon Wardle discussing the Natural Therapies Review. *This story and video was produced with the assistance of the NSW Department of Regional NSW Regional Growth Fund
Jon Wardle Professor of Public Health
Foundation Director, National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine
Maurice Blackmore Chair of Naturopathic Medicine
Professor Jon Wardle has qualifications in nursing, naturopathic medicine and postgraduate qualifications in public health, law and health economics. Jon is a highly accomplished researcher, who has worked on integrative medicine, public health and primary healthcare policy and regulatory initiatives with governments, non-government organisations and international bodies. He is passionate about protecting and embracing traditional knowledge and fostering innovative research.
Way down there
Originally from the Northern Territory Professor Wardle lives just outside Nimbin now. ‘I’m probably one of the few people who consider the Northern Rivers as “Down South.” Like a lot of academics, I did the grand tour before landing where I have – so I’ve been lucky to work in Brisbane, Seattle, Boston, Sydney, and Oxford before setting up base in Lismore.
Professor Wardle says the things he loves about being an academic are the same things that drew him to being a clinician. ‘I’ve been blessed, in that both roles have focused on solving other people’s problems and helping train the next generation of problem solvers.
‘There’s the obvious joy in helping others that people often highlight, but it would be wrong not to mention the selfish joy in the feeling of personal accomplishment and reward when the jigsaw of tricky problems starts to come together into a solution.’
Lived experienced
Professor Wardle says that like a lot of people moving into health, he took the path of the wounded healer. ‘I missed almost a full year recovering from dengue (feve) in high school, and then had some pretty serious workplace injury issues while nursing. I was told they’d require surgery that would limit my movement considerably.
‘The first experience got me interested in pursuing a health career, and the latter put me on the path to exploring what other ways of doing things existed.
‘My first real career (rather than job) was nursing, and I ended up doing most of that in theatre. If I’m honest, being taken off the wards and losing that patient contact was what made me consider other options. I initially enrolled in medical school, but after some health issues, I pretty abruptly changed paths and enrolled in a naturopathic course instead. We still joke about whether it was the best or worst decision I’ve made (I think it worked out well).
The path to the journey
‘I did public health and health law after that, and worked on designing public health programs for the government – I did a bit of lecturing for medical, naturopathic, and public health students at a few institutions before realising how much I loved it – and entered academia full time.’
Professor Wardle says that one of the big challanges working in the health are is that, like everything now, it has become hyper-politicised and tribal. ‘So many people are anti-whatever doesn’t 100 per cent fit their belief system, and you really see it in a field like integrative health, where people call the other side quacks, shills, or worse. But I relish living in the grey – there are so many ways of knowing and doing, and we owe it to ourselves and others to try and offer the best of all worlds.’
The fun things
Professor Wardle says in his spare time, he likes to bake! ‘I used to be a stress baker – my cardamom buns were my signature. But our new house has a terrible oven, so I’ve moved into the garden now. We’ve planted about 60 fruit trees and countless flowers for the bees and birds. Our joke now is that as we get older, we’ve gone from coming into work on Monday with a hangover from partying to a physical hangover from flogging ourselves in the garden.
‘Different kind of party, I guess.’
Some very good advice
Professor Wardle says his best advice is to tell people that no one is allowed to tell them who they are or what they should be. ‘That doesn’t mean you should shirk your obligations to be a good person or avoid being accountable to others, but it does mean you should believe in your beautiful self and be the you that you want to be.
‘Your journey will never go according to plan, and you’ll have a lot of people who can help you navigate when you get lost – but ultimately, the person who should decide the direction they take is you, not anyone else.’
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