Helen Minnis is Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Glasgow. Her career has been characterised by firsts, including developing a “computer-game” to measure attachment patterns. She was also first to show that maltreatment does not cause the complex, overlapping neurodevelopmental problems often seen in children who have experienced abuse and neglect. She has built up the Child and Adolescent Mental Health group in Glasgow to a reputation as a national and international centre of excellence. She has developed the measures, the networks and the PPI engagement techniques that make rigorous clinical trials possible with abused and neglected children and their families.