Charlotte Watts is Professor of Social and Mathematical Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and is an internationally respected global leader in violence and HIV research. She has played a pivotal role in making violence and health a growing field of scientific study, leading the first truly comparative global population study on violence against women and health. Her work shows that violence against women is highly prevalent globally, has major health impacts, and is preventable. This has had substantial policy impact – leading to national level legal and policy reform in several countries, and a greater global investment in violence prevention programming.