Dr. Williams is an emeritus professor in the Division of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. She served as co-principal investigator on Project Northland, developing a primary prevention program for young adolescents and evaluating its impact with 2,400 students. Project Northland is one of the few prevention programs in use in American schools with scientific evidence that its programs actually reduce alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use by adolescents. Dr. Williams' work with Project Northland includes international projects in Russia and Poland and later contributions to Project Northland in Chicago. Dr. Williams trained in clinical psychology and has a co-major in child and family development from the University of Georgia. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and a Charter Member and Diplomate of the American Board of Assessment Psychology. Dr. Williams has numerous publications in the scientific literature, including 14 books. She is a co-author of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory for Adolescents (MMPI-A) and its alcohol-drug problem scales. She taught courses on adolescent development, psychological assessment, mental health promotion, and cultural diversity and health.