Charlotte Watts

Professor Watts is seconded to DFID from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where she is Professor of Social and Mathematical Epidemiology. Originally trained as a mathematician, with a Ph.D. in theoretical mathematics from the University of Warwick, she became interested in global health whilst conducting post-doctoral research on the epidemiology of HIV at the University of Oxford. Moving to LSHTM in 1994, after gaining further training in economics and social science, and fieldwork experience in Zimbabwe and other developing countries, she founded the Social and Mathematical Epidemiology Group. The multidisciplinary group uses mathematical, epidemiological and economic research to assess the impact of current and new HIV prevention technologies, and evaluate interventions that tackle the determinants of HIV risk. Professor Watts is a global expert in violence prevention. She was Senior Technical Advisor to the WHO 10 country population surveys on women’s health and domestic violence; led the systematic review of the global prevalence and health burden of interpersonal violence, and has been senior researcher on 5 cluster randomised controlled intervention trials in sub-Saharan Africa - showing that violence is preventable. Professor Watts is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, and Foreign Associate Member of the US National Academy of Medicine. She has more than 250 academic publications, has served on numerous UN technical and Government advisory boards, and is a committed advocate for greater diversity in science and government. In 2019 she was included in Apolitical’s ‘The World’s 100 Most Influential People in Gender Policy’. She was also part of the Gold winning CAMFED garden design team at the 2019 Chelsea Flower Show.