The Most Influential People Across History
Find the most influential people in 24 academic disciplines and numerous subdisciplines
Find famous and important people related to your research. This is an excellent tool for research papers, topic papers, and building a bibliography. Using our influence-based algorithm, our rankings synthesize data from Wikipedia, Wikidata, Semantic Scholar, and CrossRef.
Students and researchers now have a fast and reliable way to find influential thinkers from 24 disciplines and 300 sub-disciplines (and growing). If you want to find history’s most influential philsosophers, or the world’s most influential mathematicians currently, now you can.
We also provide custom rankings of people by discipline as well as interviews with influential academics who are currently active.
To use this tool, select the discipline (and optional subdiscipline) relevant to your research, and specify influential academics by history, world, or US. Even results that are counterintuitive are often enlightening (our algorithm always picks up a signal).
Methodology: How and Why We Rank by Influence …
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List of the most influential people in Medical,
#801
Takashi Tsuruo
#84001
Overall Influence
#802
Richard T. Johnson
#52111
Overall Influence
1931 - 2015 (84 years)
Richard T. Johnson was a physician and scientist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Johnson was a faculty member in the Department of Neurology since its inception in 1969 and was the former head of the department. His research into the effects of viruses on the central nervous system has been published in over 300 scientific articles, and Johnson was both a journal and book editor and the author of an influential textbook, Viral Infections of the Nervous System.
Go to Profile#803
Dirk Schadendorf
#84024
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (65 years)
#804
Miia Kivipelto
#73099
Overall Influence
1973 - Present (52 years)
Miia K. Kivipelto is a Finnish neuroscientist and professor at the University of Eastern Finland and Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Her research focuses on dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Early life and education Kivipelto was born in Alajärvi, Finland in 1973. She studied medicine at the University of Kuopio and received her MD in 1999, specializing in geriatrics. She received her PhD in 2002 after defending her dissertation on vascular risk factors in Alzheimer's disease. In a 2017 interview, Kivipelto attributed her interest in dementia, Alzheimer's, and diseases of aging to her clo...
Go to Profile#805
Edward H. Kaplan
#31154
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (25 years)
Edward H. Kaplan is the William N. and Marie A. Beach Professor of Operations Research at the Yale School of Management, Professor of Public Health at the Yale School of Medicine, and Professor of Engineering in the Yale School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Go to Profile#806
William C. Knowler
#84242
Overall Influence
#807
Thomas Peter Singer
#84257
Overall Influence
#808
Flavia Senkubuge
#68599
Overall Influence
Flavia Senkubuge is a South African physician, professor of public health medicine, an advocate of global public health and the immediate past President of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa. At age 39, she was the college's youngest ever president and the first Black woman to hold the position.
Go to Profile#809
David Klein
#56903
Overall Influence
1908 - 1993 (85 years)
David Klein was a Swiss human geneticist and ophthalmologist. Klein graduating from the University of Basel in 1934. After graduating, he worked at the Rheinau Psychiatric Clinic, Zurich. He moved to Geneva as scientific assistant to professor Adolphe Franceschetti at the ophthalmological clinic. In 1970 he was appointed full professor. He retired in 1978 with the status of professor emeritus. After retirement, he was active as consultant in human genetics at the ophthalmological clinic, Geneva, and the school of amblyopic and blind children in Baar, Switzerland.
Go to Profile#810
Hans D. Ochs
#52862
Overall Influence
1936 - Present (89 years)
Hans Dieter Ochs , is an immunologist and pediatrician. He is Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle. Medical and research career Hans D. Ochs graduated from the University of Freiburg, Germany with a degree and Doctorate in Medicine. He was a resident in Pediatrics at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu, at the University of Tübingen, Germany and at the University of Washington, Seattle. He received post-graduate training in Biochemistry at the University of Tübingen and in clinical Immunology at the University of Washington.
Go to Profile#811
Ron Kikinis
#74400
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (25 years)
Ron Kikinis is an American physician and scientist best known for his research in the fields of imaging informatics, image guided surgery, and medical image computing. He is a professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School. Kikinis is the founding director of the Surgical Planning Laboratory in the Department of Radiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital, in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the vice-chair for Biomedical Informatics Research in the Department of Radiology.
Go to Profile#812
Kenneth E. Thorpe
#33473
Overall Influence
Kenneth E. Thorpe is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Health Policy at Emory University, the Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management in the Rollins School of Public Health, and a former Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services . He is also the Executive Director of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease and the Emory Institute for Advanced Policy Solutions.
Go to Profile#813
Douwe Breimer
#81454
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (82 years)
Douwe Durk Breimer is a Dutch pharmacologist and was both rector magnificus and president of the Executive Board of Leiden University, The Netherlands. Breimer studied pharmacology at the University of Groningen and obtained his Ph.D. from the Catholic University of Nijmegen. In 1975, he was appointed professor of pharmacology at Leiden University. His research focusses on pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and drug metabolism. Breimer co-authored over 500 scientific papers and supervised more than 50 Ph.D. students.
Go to Profile#814
John Hughes
#24650
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (83 years)
John Hughes is a British neuroscientist who shared the 1978 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research for the discovery of met-enkephalin and leu-enkephalin. This discovery demonstrated that opiate drugs exert their effects on the human brain by mimicking endogenous neurotransmitters, the opioid peptides.
Go to Profile#815
Mark Emberton
#78622
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (65 years)
Mark Emberton is a urologist and prostate cancer research specialist using novel imaging techniques and minimally invasive treatments to improve diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer. Emberton is Professor of Interventional oncology at University College London and Dean of its Faculty of Medical Sciences. and is Honorary Consultant Urological Surgeon at University College Hospital. He serves as Founding Pioneer of the charity Prostate Cancer UK.
Go to Profile#816
Jack Copeland
#62131
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (83 years)
Jack Greene Copeland is an American cardiothoracic surgeon, who has established procedures in heart transplantation including repeat heart transplantation, the implantation of total artificial hearts to bridge the time to heart transplant, innovations in left ventricular assist devices and the technique of "piggybacking" a second heart in a person, while leaving them the original.
Go to Profile#817
Mihai Ioan Botez
#64938
Overall Influence
1927 - 1998 (71 years)
Mihai Ioan Botez was born in Ploiești, Romania, trained at Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, a neurologist and academic who specialized in the field of neuropsychology. He immigrated to Montreal in the 1970s, becoming a professor at the Université de Montréal and director of the department of Neurology at the hospital Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal.
Go to Profile#818
Elsdon Storey
#61455
Overall Influence
Elsdon Storey is an Australian neurologist, former Rhodes Scholar & Professor of Neurology at Monash University. His clinical and research interests are in neurogenetics and behavioural neurology .
Go to Profile#819
David Craik
#84806
Overall Influence
#820
Gustav Paumgartner
#84861
Overall Influence
#821
Carl G. Streed
#66997
Overall Influence
Carl G. Streed Jr. is an American physician, researcher, and advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. He is an assistant professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. Early life and education Streed grew up in Zion, Illinois. He completed a B.S. in biological chemistry and B.A. in chemistry at University of Chicago in 2007. While at Chicago, Streed became an advocate for LGBTQ issues and served on the university's committee for enhancing support for the LGBTQ community. He came out as gay to his family before graduating. Streed volunteered at the Broadway Youth Center with their HIV and STI services.
Go to Profile#822
Eelco F. M. Wijdicks
#84901
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (71 years)
#823
Prokar Dasgupta
#76621
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (59 years)
Prokar Dasgupta is an Indian-born British surgeon and academic who is professor of surgery at the surgical academy at King's Health Partners, London, UK. Since 2002, he has been consultant urologist to Guy's Hospital, and in 2009 became the first professor of robotic surgery and urology at King's, and subsequently the chairman of the King's College-Vattikuti Institute of Robotic Surgery.
Go to Profile#824
Geoffrey Kabat
#71987
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (79 years)
Geoffrey C. Kabat is an American epidemiologist, cancer researcher, and author. He has been on the faculty of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and State University of New York, Stony Brook. He was co-author of a discredited BMJ study funded by the tobacco industry, that erroneously said there was no association between secondhand smoke and health problems.
Go to Profile#825
Paul John Nestel
#85149
Overall Influence
#826
Isabelle Boutron
#76546
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (54 years)
Isabelle Boutron is a professor of epidemiology at the Université Paris Cité and head of the INSERM- METHODS team within the Centre of Research in Epidemiology and Statistics . She was originally trained in rheumatology and later switched to a career in epidemiology and public health. She is also deputy director of the French EQUATOR Centre, member of the SPIRIT-CONSORT executive committee, director of Cochrane France and co-convenor of the Bias Methods group of the Cochrane Collaboration.
Go to Profile#827
Patrick Couvreur
#84896
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (75 years)
Patrick Couvreur, born 1950 in Schaerbeek , is a French pharmacologist who specialises in medical nanotechnology and is currently professor at the University of Paris-Sud. Couvreur was elected as a member into the National Academy of Engineering in 2015 for advances in nanomedicine and commercialization of targeted nanotechnology systems for cancer treatment.
Go to Profile#828
Professor Peter Sleight
#85302
Overall Influence
#829
Mark Caulfield
#71244
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (65 years)
Sir Mark Jonathan Caulfield MD, FRCP, FESC, FPharm, FBHS, FMedSci is a British genomic medicine researcher and Warden of Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry. He is the professor of Clinical Pharmacology at the William Harvey Research Institute in Queen Mary University of London. He was awarded a knighthood in the 2019 Birthday Honours.
Go to Profile#830
Edward F. Domino
#85485
Overall Influence
#831
Roland L. Fischer
#25276
Overall Influence
1915 - 1997 (82 years)
Roland Fischer was an experimental researcher and psychopharmacologist known for his early work on psychedelic drugs, schizophrenia, the perception-hallucination continuum model of altered states of consciousness, and for his work on gustation which later contributed to research supporting supertasting. Fischer was formerly professor of experimental psychiatry and associate professor of pharmacology at Ohio State University , and also held academic posts at George Washington University, Georgetown and Johns Hopkins University.
Go to Profile#832
Bruce Ponder
#56178
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (81 years)
Sir Bruce Anthony John Ponder FMedSci FAACR FRS FRCP is an English geneticist and cancer researcher. He is Emeritus Professor of Oncology at the University of Cambridge and former director of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute and of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Cancer Centre.
Go to Profile#833
Karen Ashe
#46585
Overall Influence
Karen K. Hsiao Ashe is a professor at the Department of Neurology and Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota Medical School, where she holds the Edmund Wallace and Anne Marie Tulloch Chairs in Neurology and Neuroscience. She is the founding director of the N. Bud Grossman Center for Memory Research and Care, and her specific research interest is memory loss resulting from Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Her research has included the development of an animal model of Alzheimer's.
Go to Profile#834
Paul M. Ellwood Jr.
#47681
Overall Influence
1926 - Present (99 years)
Paul Murdock Ellwood Jr. was an American physician and a controversial figure in American health care. Often referred to as the "father of the health maintenance organization", he not only coined the term, he also played a role in bringing about structural changes to the American health care system to simultaneously control cost and promote health by replacing fee-for-service with prepaid, comprehensive care. The term "HMO" was coined by Ellwood in a January 1970 Fortune magazine article. More recently, he had advanced an agenda for monitoring health outcomes, so that patients, providers, and...
Go to Profile#835
Allan G. Farman
#74080
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (76 years)
Allan George Farman is a Professor of Radiology and Imaging Science, Department of Surgical and Hospital Dentistry, The University of Louisville School of Dentistry, and also serves both as Adjunct Professor of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology and as Clinical Professor of Diagnostic Radiology of the School of Medicine in the same institution.
Go to Profile#836
John Niparko
#73050
Overall Influence
1955 - 2016 (61 years)
John K. Niparko was an American surgeon, scientist and otolaryngologist who specialized in cochlear implants. Niparko edited and wrote several chapters of Cochlear Implants: Principles & Practices. Early life Niparko was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. In high school, he became interested in early inner-era implant devices. He attended the University of Michigan where he received his bachelor degree and medical degree. There, he completed his residency in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery. He also completed a fellowship in neurotology, otology, and skull base surgery.
Go to Profile#837
Bryan l. Roth
#85861
Overall Influence
#838
Channing Der
#81539
Overall Influence
Channing Joseph Der is an American scientist and educator, and Sarah Graham Kenan Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology, at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Der is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, He is recognized for his work with the Ras oncoprotein and its role in human oncogenesis.
Go to Profile#839
Teresa Seeman
#85904
Overall Influence
#840
Katrin Amunts
#28570
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (63 years)
Katrin Amunts is a German neuroscientist. She is the Professor of the C. and O. Vogt Institute for Brain Research at the University of Düsseldorf and is also Director of the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine in INM-1 in Forschungszentrum Jülich. She is one of the most prominent neuroscientists in brain mapping in the world. She is Scientific Research Director of the Human Brain Project.
Go to Profile#841
Jerome B. Posner
#85969
Overall Influence
#842
Carrie MacEwen
#66652
Overall Influence
Dame Caroline Jan MacEwen , known as Carrie MacEwen, is a British ophthalmology consultant who has served as the chair of the General Medical Council since May 2022. She was previously acting chair of the GMC between August 2021 and May 2022, the chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges between 2017 and 2020 and the president of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists between 2014 and 2017.
Go to Profile#843
José-Alain Sahel
#65468
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (70 years)
José-Alain Sahel is a French ophthalmologist and scientist. He is currently the chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, director of the UPMC Eye Center, and the Eye and Ear Foundation Chair of Ophthalmology. Dr. Sahel previously led the Vision Institute in Paris, a research center associated with the one of the oldest eye hospitals of Europe - Quinze-Vingts National Eye Hospital in Paris, founded in 1260. He is a pioneer in the field of artificial retina and eye regenerative therapies. He is a member of the French Academy of Sciences.
Go to Profile#844
Don E. Detmer
#31182
Overall Influence
Don E. Detmer is professor emeritus and professor of medical education at the University of Virginia. Biography and career Detmer chaired the 1991 study, The Computer-based Patient Record. He was a member of the committee that developed the IOM Reports, To Err is Human and Crossing the Quality Chasm. From 1999 to 2003 he was the Dennis Gillings Professor of Health Management at Cambridge University and is a lifetime member of Clare Hall College, Cambridge. From 2005 to 2015 he was visiting professor, Centre for Health Informatics and Multi-professional Education, University College London.
Go to Profile#845
John Edmunds
#70458
Overall Influence
William John Edmunds is a British epidemiologist, and a professor in the Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Education Edmunds studied at Imperial College London where he was awarded a PhD in 1994 for research investigating the epidemiology of hepatitis B. He also has an MSc from the University of York.
Go to Profile#846
Ruben Kuzniecky
#76819
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (68 years)
Ruben Kuzniecky is a neurologist scientist who is Vice-chair academic affairs and professor of neurology at Northwell Health specializing in the field of epilepsy, epilepsy surgery and neuro-imaging.
Go to Profile#847
Ken Hashimoto
#72223
Overall Influence
1931 - 2017 (86 years)
Ken Hashimoto was a Japanese professor of dermatology resident in the United States, who pioneered research in skin disease using electron microscopy and histochemistry. He was born and brought up in Niigata City, Japan, where his father was professor and dean of the Niigata University School of Medicine. After graduating in medicine, he moved to the United States in 1956, and completed his training in dermatology at the University of Maryland and Massachusetts General Hospital.
Go to Profile#848
M. C. Pant
#69570
Overall Influence
1956 - 2015 (59 years)
Mohan Chandra Pant was an Indian radiation oncologist, institution builder and the founder vice chancellor of the H. N. B. Uttarakhand Medical Education University, Dehradun. He served as the Director of Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, and was the Dean and head of the Radiotherapy Department at the King George's Medical University at the time of his death. He received the Dr. B. C. Roy Award, the highest Indian award in the medical category, from the Medical Council of India in 2005. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Pa...
Go to Profile#849
Mary T. Bassett
#71583
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (25 years)
Mary Travis Bassett is an American physician and public health researcher who was the 17th Health Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health, being appointed to the position by Governor Kathy Hochul on September 29, 2021, until December 31, 2022. From 2014 to 2018, she was the commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Bassett is the Director of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University and the FXB Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health. She is also an associate professor o...
Go to Profile#850
Alberto Ascherio
#86540
Overall Influence
