Wilhelm Janke received his scientific training in the 1950s at the Marburg Institute of Psychology under the supervision of Heinrich Düker. His doctoral thesis was supervised by Gustav Lienert. His habilitation in 1967 was followed by professorships in Giessen, Düsseldorf and finally Würzburg, where he worked from 1982-2001. His main research interests were in clinical psychology, pharmacopsychology and also psychosomatics.
He and Otto Heller were united by the conviction that psychology should be experimental and scientifically oriented. Together they developed and implemented a structural concept that still shapes the institute today.
In 2001, Janke became emeritus professor and subsequently worked as a lecturer at the TU Berlin.