Dr. Watts came to the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1974 as Assistant Director of Educational Planning, where she was instrumental in the creation of the Institute of Health Professions. After the Institute was launched, she came to serve as Director of the Graduate Program in Physical Therapy as well as Acting Provost.
Throughout her professional life, Dr. Watts focused on educating health care professionals. Her major academic interests concerned interdisciplinary education, clinical teaching, the economics of health care, and clinical reasoning.
Dr. Watts taught and consulted in Britain, Scandinavia, Africa, and Latin America. In addition, she was on the original founding board of the Foundation for Physical Therapy, which was created to promote and foster research, and was active in the World Confederation for Physical Therapy.
She received several awards and honors from the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), including the Baethke-Carlin Award for Excellence in Academic Teaching and the Mary McMillan Lectureship, the organization's highest award. In 1986 Dr. Watts was named a Catherine Worthingham Fellow of the American Physical Therapy Association (FAPTA), the highest honor among APTA's membership categories.
Dr. Watts passed away April 4, 2011 at the age of 83. She was a true pioneer, and her influence and impact will continue to be felt for years to come by the Institute and the many individuals whose lives she touched.