The ultimate list of leaders in life sciences.
The 2024 STATUS List features 50 influential people shaping the future of health and life sciences across biotech, medicine, health care, policy, and health tech. The list is wide-ranging: from executives and VCs who set their industries’ priorities, to scientists expanding the scope of CRISPR technology, to researchers determined to eliminate racial bias from clinical algorithms.
Some are big names you’ve surely heard of; others behind-the-scenes players, trying to shake up the status quo. We didn’t shy away from leaders who are controversial. What these 50 people have in common is their impact over the past year, and why they’re worth our readers’ attention in the year ahead.
This list is necessarily subjective. It’s the product of a months-long (and sometimes painstaking) nomination and judging process involving editors and reporters at STAT. We welcome readers’ thoughts on who they would select and why. We hope the list will spark fresh conversations about the changemakers who are driving headlines in health and medicine.
Business
Greg Adams
Chair and CEO, Kaiser Permanente
Business
Behzad Aghazadeh
Managing partner and portfolio manager, Avoro Capital
Academia
David Baker
Professor, biochemistry, University of Washington
Academia
Ruha Benjamin
Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of African American Studies, Princeton University
Academia
Elisabeth Bik
Science integrity consultant
Nonprofit
Brian Blase
President, Paragon Health Institute
Business
Kristina Burow
Managing director, ARCH Venture Partners
Academia
Emmanuelle Charpentier
Scientific and managing director, Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens
Academia
Rory Cooper
Director, Human Engineering Research Labs, University of Pittsburgh and U.S. VA Department
Medicine
Foluso Fakorede
CEO, Cardiovascular Solutions of Central Mississippi and Fusion Vascular
Government
Jeremy Farrar
Chief scientist, World Health Organization
Nonprofit
Cynthia Fisher
Founder and chairman, PatientRightsAdvocate.org
Academia
Diana Greene Foster
Professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences, UCSF
Business
Susan Galbraith
Executive vice president of oncology research and development, AstraZeneca
Academia
Judy Gichoya
Associate professor of interventional radiology and informatics, Emory University
Medicine
Laurie Glimcher
President and CEO, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Business
Matt Gline
CEO, Roivant Sciences
Academia
Barney S. Graham
Professor of medicine and microbiology, biochemistry, and immunology, Morehouse School of Medicine
Philanthropy
John Green and Hank Green
Authors, patient advocates, YouTube vloggers
Academia
Jacob Hanna
Professor of stem cell biology and synthetic embryology, Weizmann Institute of Science
Medicine
Katalin Karikó
Adjunct professor, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Medicine
Alex Keuroghlian
Director, The National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center
Business
Reshma Kewalramani
CEO and president, Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Business
Lotte Knudsen
Chief scientific adviser, Novo Nordisk
Medicine
Grace Lee
Chief quality officer, Stanford Medicine Children’s Health
Business
Peter Lee
Corporate vice president, Microsoft Research & Incubations
Government
Henry Liu
Director of Bureau of Competition, Federal Trade Commission
Business
Ted Love
Chair, BIO
Business
Karen S. Lynch
CVS Health president and CEO
Government
Peter Marks
Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, FDA
Government
Jeanne Marrazzo
Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH
Medicine
Aletha Maybank
Chief health equity officer and senior vice president, American Medical Association
Academia
Monica McLemore
Interim director, Manning Price Spratlen Center for Anti-Racism and Equity, U. of Washington
Business
Joshua Miele
Principal accessibility researcher, Amazon
Government
Michelle Morse
Chief medical officer, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
Academia
Dariush Mozaffarian
Director, Food Is Medicine Institute, Tufts University
Medicine
Stuart Orkin
David G. Nathan Distinguished Professor, Harvard Medical School; investigator, HHMI
Business
Umer Raffat
Senior managing director, Evercore ISI
Medicine
Steven Rosenberg
Chief, surgery branch, National Cancer Institute
Business
Daniel Skovronsky
Chief scientific officer, Eli Lilly and Company
Academia
Ida Sim
Professor and chief research informatics officer, UCSF
Medicine
Melissa A. Simon
OB-GYN and professor, Northwestern Medicine
Government
Neera Tanden
White House domestic policy advisor
Nonprofit
Holden Thorp
Editor-in-chief, Science journals; professor at George Washington University
Medicine
Krystal Tsosie
Assistant professor of life sciences, Arizona State University
Business
Tim Van Hauwermeiren
CEO, Argenx
Business
Chris Viehbacher
President and chief executive officer, Biogen
Medicine
Drew Weissman
Director of vaccine research, infectious diseases division, University of Pennsylvania
Business
Andrew Witty
CEO, UnitedHealth Group
Academia
Feng Zhang
Core member, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard