Charles Parry is the director of the Alcohol, Tobacco & Other Drug Research Unit at the South African Medical Research Council. He is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Stellenbosch University and a registered clinical and research psychologist. He has trained in South Africa and the USA in clinical and community psychology and mathematical statistics. He has published over 270 indexed journal articles. He is a member of the WHO Expert Panel on Drug Dependence and Alcohol Problems, the Board of the Global Alcohol Policy Alliance, the UN Office on Drugs & Crime’s World Drug Report Scientific Advisory Committee, and the Academy of Sciences of South Africa.