1. Atul Gawande

Based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA

 

Surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Distinguished Professor in Residence at Ariadne Labs, and the most consequential clinician-writer in the world — author of four New York Times bestsellers including The Checklist Manifesto and Being Mortal. He stepped down as USAID's Assistant Administrator for Global Health on January 20, 2025, immediately becoming the most prominent public voice on what the dismantling of USAID meant for the 93 million women and children whose health programmes it supported. He spoke at Harvard Chan School in April 2025, delivered Harvard Alumni Day address in spring 2025, and produced the New Yorker film Rovina's Choice in 2025. His testimony throughout the review period that "USAID cannot be restored to what it was, but it is not too late to save our health and science infrastructure" was among the most widely cited statements in global health during the year. The most important public voice at the intersection of clinical medicine, public health, and systems thinking.

 

 

2. Eric Topol

Based in La Jolla, California, USA

Executive Vice President of Scripps Research, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, practicing cardiologist, and one of the top ten most cited researchers in medicine globally with over 340,000 citations. Author of four bestsellers including Deep Medicine and, published in 2025, Super Agers: An Evidence-Based Approach to Longevity. His Ground Truths Substack newsletter and podcast — delivering cutting-edge biomedical analysis for a general audience — is one of the most important science communication platforms in medicine. Named to TIME 100 Health 2024, commissioned by the UK government to lead NHS workforce planning, and the most credible and rigorous public intellectual on AI in medicine. Throughout 2025-2026, his writing on how AI is genuinely transforming radiology, pathology, and clinical decision-making — grounded in data rather than hype — was among the most important content available to healthcare leaders trying to understand what is actually changing.

 

 

3. Vivek Murthy

Based in Washington, D.C., USA

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Former US Surgeon General under Presidents Obama and Biden, and the most important public health voice in America throughout the review period — particularly for his work on the adolescent mental health crisis, social isolation as a public health epidemic, and the health harms of social media. His 2023 advisory on social media and youth mental health continued to be widely cited and acted upon throughout 2025-2026, and his departure from the Surgeon General role in February 2025 prompted widespread reflection on what was being lost in public health leadership. Active throughout the review period as a speaker, commentator, and public voice, Murthy's ability to translate complex public health data into clear, compassionate public communication makes him the most trusted physician communicator in America.

 

 

4. Ashish Jha

Based in Providence, Rhode Island, USA

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Dean of Brown University School of Public Health and former White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator under President Biden — a role he stepped down from in June 2023 but whose lessons he continued to document and disseminate throughout 2025-2026. One of the most widely followed public health voices on social media, Jha's daily commentary on healthcare policy, pandemic preparedness, the dismantling of public health infrastructure, and what evidence-based healthcare policy actually requires continued to reach millions throughout the review period. His ability to work at the intersection of clinical medicine, epidemiology, and policy makes him one of the most multi-dimensional healthcare voices in the world.

 

 

5. Leana Wen

Based in Baltimore, Maryland, USA

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Emergency physician, former Baltimore Health Commissioner, former President of Planned Parenthood, CNN Medical Analyst, and Washington Post contributing columnist — the most widely read clinician-journalist in the United States. Throughout 2025-2026, Wen's weekly Washington Post health columns and CNN appearances made her the primary interface between clinical evidence and public understanding on topics ranging from vaccines to obesity medicine to healthcare policy. Her willingness to update her public positions as evidence changes, and her commitment to explaining complex clinical trade-offs to a lay audience without patronising either the science or the reader, makes her the most practically useful public health communicator for people trying to make informed health decisions.

 

 

6. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Based in Geneva, Switzerland

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Director-General of the World Health Organization since 2017 and the most consequential individual in global health governance throughout 2025-2026. As the Trump administration cut US contributions to global health, reduced USAID programming, and withdrew from or threatened multilateral health institutions, Tedros's leadership of WHO during extraordinary pressure — defending the organisation's scientific independence, maintaining partnerships, and mobilising alternative funding — made him one of the most tested and consequential healthcare leaders of the review period. Active throughout with public communications, global travel, and institutional advocacy. The individual whose decisions affect more people's health than any other single person on earth.

 

 

7. Robert Wachter

Based in San Francisco, California, USA

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Professor and Chair of Medicine at UCSF, co-founder of the hospital medicine movement, author of The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine's Computer Age, and the most analytically rigorous public voice on AI in clinical medicine. His The Wachter View Substack newsletter — launched during the pandemic and continued throughout 2025-2026 — offers the most thoughtful senior clinician perspective on how AI, electronic health records, and digital transformation are changing medical practice at the bedside level. Named one of the 50 most influential physician executives in the US by Modern Healthcare multiple times. His ability to hold genuine clinical authority while engaging seriously with technology separates him from both the tech-sceptic clinicians and the uncritical AI enthusiasts who dominate this conversation.

 

 

8. Céline Gounder

Based in New York, NY, USA

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Editor-at-Large for Public Health at KFF Health News, infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist, former Biden COVID advisory board member, and the clearest and most consistently useful clinical journalist on public health topics for general audiences. Throughout 2025-2026, Gounder's podcast America Dissected and her reporting continued to be among the most practically important resources for healthcare professionals and informed citizens trying to understand what the restructuring of US public health infrastructure means for the profession and for patients. A genuine clinician-journalist whose work sits at exactly the intersection this list is designed to recognise.

 

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9. Zubin Damania (ZDoggMD)

Based in San Francisco, California, USA

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Physician, performer, founder of Turntable Health (a direct primary care clinic in Las Vegas), and the creator of the ZDoggMD platform — the most widely viewed physician-created health media brand in the world, with hundreds of millions of video views across platforms. Active throughout 2025-2026 with near-daily content on clinical medicine, healthcare system dysfunction, AI in medicine, and the mental health of clinicians, Damania's ability to communicate clinical complexity with humour, honesty, and genuine medical depth gives him a reach no traditional healthcare communicator can match. One of the most important forces in healthcare media globally.

 

 

10. Patrice Harris

Based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA

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Former President of the American Medical Association (the first woman and first African American woman to hold that role), CEO of eMed, and one of the most senior and respected healthcare system leaders in the United States. Throughout 2025-2026, Harris remained one of the most prominent voices on physician wellbeing, health equity, and what genuinely inclusive healthcare leadership looks like at the institutional level. Her combination of clinical credibility, policy experience, and health equity advocacy makes her one of the most multi-dimensional leaders in the profession.

 

 

11. Mark McClellan

Based in Durham, North Carolina, USA

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Former FDA Commissioner and former Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), currently Director of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, and one of the most credible voices on health policy, drug pricing, and what evidence-based healthcare regulation looks like. Throughout 2025-2026, as US healthcare policy underwent significant turbulence, McClellan's calm, data-driven, bipartisan perspective on what actually improves healthcare quality and access continued to be widely sought by policymakers, system leaders, and journalists. One of the most trusted senior policy voices in American healthcare.

 

 

12. Shoshana Ungerleider

Based in San Francisco, California, USA

 

Internist, founder of End Well — the most influential conference and platform on end-of-life care — and one of the most compelling and compassionate public voices on how medicine thinks and talks about death. A TEDx speaker, documentary producer, and frequent media commentator, Ungerleider's work on redesigning how healthcare systems approach dying patients continued to resonate throughout 2025-2026 as population ageing made the conversation more urgent. One of the most important voices in the profession on what patient-centred care genuinely means at its most consequential moment.

 

 

13. Thomas Frieden

Based in New York City, NY, USA

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Former Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under President Obama, founder and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives — the public health initiative focused on preventing epidemics and cardiovascular disease globally — and one of the most credible and practically experienced public health system builders alive. Throughout 2025-2026, as the CDC faced political pressure and budget cuts, Frieden's independent voice on what effective public health infrastructure requires and what it means to lose it was among the most important public health commentary of the period. A practitioner whose work has saved millions of lives, continuing to do so through direct implementation rather than advocacy alone.

 

 

14. Megan Ranney

Based in New Haven, Connecticut, USA

Academic Emergency Physician, Dean of Yale School of Public Health, and one of the most visible and credible voices on gun violence as a public health crisis, on the mental health emergency in emergency departments, and on what the evidence says about healthcare policy debates that are too often driven by ideology rather than outcomes. Active throughout 2025-2026 as a writer, speaker, media commentator, and institutional leader, Ranney is one of the most important voices at the intersection of clinical medicine and public health policy — comfortable in both the emergency bay and the Senate hearing room.

 

 

15. Vin Gupta

Based in Seattle, Washington, USA

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Pulmonologist, epidemiologist, Microsoft Chief Medical Officer, MSNBC medical correspondent, and one of the most widely seen clinical voices in American media throughout 2025-2026. His combination of clinical practice, corporate health technology leadership, and mainstream media presence gives him an unusual ability to bridge clinical medicine, digital health, and public communication. His on-air analysis of public health policy changes, healthcare legislation, and pandemic preparedness throughout the review period reached audiences far larger than most clinicians can access.

 

 

16. Danielle Ofri

Based in New York City, NY, USA

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Internist at Bellevue Hospital, clinical professor at NYU School of Medicine, founder and editor of the Bellevue Literary Review, and author of Singular Intimacy and What Doctors Feel — the most nuanced and literary voice on what medicine feels like from the inside and what that means for both clinicians and patients. Active throughout 2025-2026 via essays in the New Yorker, New York Times, and NEJM on physician burnout, the emotional dimensions of clinical care, and what AI changes about the doctor-patient relationship. A voice that keeps the human at the centre of a profession increasingly at risk of losing it.

 

 

17. Uché Blackstock

Based in Brookyln, NY, USA

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Founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity, former academic emergency physician, and the most prominent voice in American medicine on the specific intersection of race, structural racism, and health outcomes. Author of Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine (2023) — which continued to be widely read and cited throughout 2025-2026 as the healthcare profession confronted both the political pressure on DEI and the persistent evidence of racial health disparities. A voice combining clinical expertise with personal testimony and systemic analysis in a way that demands genuine engagement rather than comfortable agreement.

 

 

18. Ezekiel Emanuel

Based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

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Vice Provost for Global Initiatives and Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, former White House health policy advisor, co-architect of the Affordable Care Act, and the most prolific and intellectually combative health policy voice in American public life. Author of Which Country Has the World's Best Health Care? and Prescription for the Future, active throughout 2025-2026 with columns, debates, and policy commentary on drug pricing, end-of-life care, and healthcare system reform. His willingness to take positions that generate controversy — and to defend them with data — makes him the essential counterweight to comfortable consensus in healthcare leadership.

 

 

19. Rishi Manchanda

Based in Los Angeles, California, USA

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Physician, author of The Upstream Doctors: Medical Innovators Track Sickness to Its Source, and the most widely recognised voice on upstream medicine — the practice of treating the social determinants of health (housing, food security, education, economic stability) rather than just their clinical downstream consequences. Founder of HealthBegins and one of the most practically experienced voices on what it actually takes to integrate social determinants work into clinical practice at scale. His framework — "upstream doctors" who ask why patients get sick rather than just treating illness — has been adopted by health systems across the US and internationally.

 

 

20. Victor Dzau

Based in Washington, D.C., USA

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President of the National Academy of Medicine, the most authoritative scientific body in US healthcare, and one of the most senior and respected figures in American health science. Throughout 2025-2026, as scientific institutions came under political pressure and as the healthcare profession grappled with questions about the integrity of evidence in policy-making, Dzau's leadership of NAM — maintaining its independence, publishing critical reports on health equity, AI in medicine, and pandemic preparedness — was one of the most consequential acts of institutional healthcare leadership of the review period.

 

 

21. Marty Makary

Based in Washington, D.C., USA

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Surgeon at Johns Hopkins, author of The Price We Pay and Blind Spots, and — from March 2025 onwards — Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, confirmed by the Senate and sworn in during the Trump administration's second term. Whatever one's view of his appointment, Makary's new role as FDA Commissioner made him one of the most consequential healthcare leaders in the world during the review period, with his decisions on drug approvals, medical device regulation, and food safety directly affecting the health of hundreds of millions of people. His prior public work on healthcare pricing transparency and medical orthodoxy gave him an unusually public profile for an agency head.

 

 

22. Joanne Liu

Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

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Former International President of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) / Doctors Without Borders, and one of the most morally and practically credible voices on what humanitarian medicine and healthcare in crisis actually requires. Active throughout 2025-2026 as a speaker, educator, and public commentator on the collapse of humanitarian health infrastructure — including USAID — and what it means for the world's most vulnerable populations. Her direct operational experience leading MSF's response to Ebola, the Syria crisis, and multiple other humanitarian emergencies gives her voice a weight that purely policy-based commentators cannot match.

 

 

23. Robert Pearl

Based in San Francisco, California, USA

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Former CEO of The Permanente Medical Group (the physician arm of Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest integrated healthcare systems in the US), author of Mistreated: Why We Think We're Getting Good Health Care and Why We're Usually Wrong and ChatGPT, MD, and one of the most practically experienced voices on what healthcare system transformation actually requires inside large organisations. His podcast Fixing Healthcare and his writing throughout 2025-2026 on AI in medicine, physician leadership, and the structural barriers to healthcare improvement were among the most practically useful for healthcare executives and system leaders.

 

 

24. Rhea Boyd

Based in San Francisco, California, USA

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Paediatrician, public health advocate, and one of the most compelling and rigorous voices on child health equity, structural racism in medicine, and what genuine healthcare justice requires in practice. Active throughout 2025-2026 as a writer, speaker, and media commentator, Boyd's work brings clinical specificity to conversations about health equity that are often conducted entirely in abstract policy terms. Her published essays and public advocacy on the specific health harms to children of colour from structural inequity in the healthcare system make her one of the most important young voices in the profession.

 

 

25. Sanjay Gupta

Based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA

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CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, practising neurosurgeon at Emory University Hospital, and the most widely recognised clinician-journalist in the world, with a news audience reaching tens of millions throughout 2025-2026. Author of Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age and multiple other popular health titles. Throughout the review period, Gupta's coverage of healthcare policy changes, public health developments, brain health, and AI in medicine on CNN continued to serve as the primary interface between clinical medicine and a general global audience. Whatever one thinks of the simplifications that mass audience communication requires, the scale of his reach — and his genuine clinical credibility as a practising surgeon — makes his voice one of the most consequential in healthcare communication.

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Congratulations to All 25 Honourees

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Think a Healthcare leader belongs on next year's list? 

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Nominations for the 2027 Industry Leaders Top 25 can be made here https://www.theindustryleaders.org/nominate

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Selections are made at the sole editorial discretion of The Industry Leaders based on publicly available information. Inclusion or exclusion does not constitute an endorsement, and positions within the list do not reflect a definitive ranking of merit.