Dr. Watson is the former Project Director of Chicago Consortium for Stigma Research (CCSR), an interdisciplinary group of researchers dedicated to studying mental illness stigma, led by Dr. Corrigan. She has been involved in research on models of public stigma, self stigma and stigma change strategies. She has also conducted research on the interface of the mental health and criminal justice systems and factors influencing how individuals with mental illness are processed by these systems. This work has included examining police officer attitudes about persons with mental illnesses, the experiences of persons with mental illnesses in police encounters, and the Crisis Intervention Team model of police response. She was recently awarded the John M. Davis, MD Researcher of the Year Award from NAMI of Greater Chicago.