Inaugural lecture by Helen Weiss, 5 July 2016. In her lecture, Prof Helen Weiss talks through her career investigating the intersection of HIV and mental health in African adolescents. She tells her story starting from 1997, when one of her studies showed clear factors driving the HIV epidemic in East Africa: young girls marrying older men, male circumcision, and Herpes simplex virus type 2 infection - all of which involve the adolescent period. Prof Weiss goes on to discuss her recent work focusing on how, in order to affect adolescent behaviour, we need to address the 'storm and stress' many adolescents face, highlighting successful innovations such as her work with Prof Vikram Patel and the Friendship Bench in Zimbabwe.