Bryan Williams is Chair of Medicine at the UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science. His research in the field of hypertension has led him to be recognised as one of the world’s leading authorities in this area. In blood pressure measurement he led seminal studies demonstrating differential drug effects on aortic pressure, culminating in his development of novel non-invasive mathematical models to derive aortic pressure, which spurned new device development. His contribution to many other major clinical trials of drug treatment and new device development for hypertension has been profoundly influential and his stature and leadership in the field has ensured their translation into the clinical management of hypertension for over 1 billion people globally.