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,
#851
L. Joseph Melton Melton
#86545
Overall Influence
#852
Max Wiznitzer
#82156
Overall Influence
Max Wiznitzer is the director of the Rainbow Autism Center at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland. He has worked there since 1986. Wiznitzer is also an associate professor of pediatrics and neurology at Case Western Reserve University.
Go to Profile#853
James R. Gillette
#86687
Overall Influence
#854
Joshua M. Epstein
#8476
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (74 years)
Joshua Morris Epstein is Professor of Epidemiology at the New York University College of Global Public Health. Formerly Professor of Emergency Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, with joint appointments in the departments of Applied Mathematics, Economics, Biostatistics, International Health, and Environmental Health Sciences and the Director of the JHU Center for Advanced Modeling in the Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences. He is an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, and a member of the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Identi...
Go to Profile#855
Bryan Macmahon
#86788
Overall Influence
#856
Arthur Furst
#55451
Overall Influence
1914 - 2005 (91 years)
Arthur Furst was an American born toxicologist and cancer researcher. He was involved in the creation of the Cancer Chemotherapy Laboratory at Stanford Medical School. Early life and education He was born in Minneapolis, and orphaned at the age of four. He earned an A.A. in Psychology at City College of Los Angeles. Later he transferred to UCLA, where he earned an A.B. in Chemistry with minors in mathematics, physics, and psychology, and an M.A. in Chemistry with minors in mathematics and education. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford in 1948.
Go to Profile#857
Michael K. Morgan
#83335
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (69 years)
Michael Kerin Morgan is an Australian neurosurgeon. He is a cerebrovascular surgeon at Macquarie University Hospital, Sydney. Morgan was born in Royal Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England, and emigrated with his family to Australia in 1957. He completed his medical degree at the University of Sydney in 1980 and his M.D. in 1991. Following completion of his neurosurgical training in 1986 at Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, Morgan undertook a Fellowship in Neurosurgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, under the mentorship of Thoralf M. Sundt.
Go to Profile#858
Diana W. Bianchi
#66349
Overall Influence
Diana W. Bianchi is the director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, a post often called “the nation’s pediatrician.” She is a medical geneticist and neonatologist noted for her research on fetal cell microchimerism and prenatal testing. Bianchi had previously been the Natalie V. Zucker Professor of Pediatrics, Obstetrics, and Gynecology at Tufts University School of Medicine and founder and executive director of the Mother Infant Research Institute at Tufts Medical Center. She also has served as Vice Chair ...
Go to Profile#859
Christoffel Nortje
#76085
Overall Influence
Christoffel Nortje is a South African dentist who is emeritus professor of oral and maxillofacial radiology at the Department of Diagnostics and Radiology at the University of the Western Cape, Faculty of Dentistry in Cape Town, South Africa. He was in private practice prior to joining the Department of Diagnostics and Radiology at Stellenbosch University, where he headed the department until 2005.
Go to Profile#860
Julien Bogousslavsky
#86981
Overall Influence
#861
Cornelia van Duijn
#83958
Overall Influence
Cornelia M. van Duijn is a Dutch epidemiologist. She is Professor of Epidemiology at Nuffield Department of Population Health and a Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford. Life Cornelia van Duijn studied human nutrition and mathematical statistics at the Agricultural University of Wageningen, and genetics and epidemiology at Erasmus University Medical School.
Go to Profile#862
Azra Ghani
#71833
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (54 years)
Azra Catherine Hilary Ghani is a British epidemiologist who is a professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Imperial College London. Her research considers the mathematical modelling of infectious diseases, including malaria, bovine spongiform encephalopathy and coronavirus. She has worked with the World Health Organization on their technical strategy for malaria. She is associate director of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis.
Go to Profile#863
Jonathan Patz
#67353
Overall Influence
Jonathan Alan Patz is an American academic who is a professor and John P. Holton Chair of Health and the Environment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he serves as Director of the Global Health Institute. Patz also holds appointments in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and the Department of Population Health Sciences at the UW-Madison. He serves on the executive committee of the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement and was elected in 2019 to the National Academy of Medicine.
Go to Profile#864
Bill Jenkins
#62600
Overall Influence
1945 - 2019 (74 years)
William Carter Jenkins was an American public health researcher and academic. Jenkins worked as a statistician at the United States Public Health Service in the 1960s, and is best known for trying to halt the Tuskegee syphilis experiment in 1969. He spent the rest of his career fighting racism in the U.S. healthcare system, working for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the early days of the AIDS crisis, and overseeing the government benefits program for survivors of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.
Go to Profile#865
Salim Abdool Karim
#63381
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (65 years)
Salim S. Abdool Karim, MBChB, MMed, MS, FFPHM, FFPath , DipData, PhD, DSc, FRS is a South African public health physician, epidemiologist and virologist who has played a leading role in the AIDS and COVID-19 pandemic. His scientific contributions have impacted the landscape of HIV prevention and treatment, saving thousands of lives.
Go to Profile#866
Gregg Gonsalves
#46356
Overall Influence
1963 - Present (62 years)
Gregg Gonsalves is a global health activist, an epidemiologist, an associate professor at Yale School of Public Health and an associate professor at Yale Law School. As well as being co-director of Yale Law School's Global Health Justice Partnership, Gonsalves is the public health correspondent of the progressive magazine The Nation.
Go to Profile#867
Harry W. Herr
#87297
Overall Influence
#868
Francesco Lacquaniti
#41471
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (73 years)
Francesco Lacquaniti is an Italian neurologist and neuroscientist. He received his medical education and completed his Neurology residency at the University of Turin. He is Professor of Physiology at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, and the Director of the Laboratory of Neuromotor Physiology at Santa Lucia Foundation IRCCS, Rome. His research focuses on the laws of movement control in humans and other animals and their development in children and alteration after neurological lesions . He also studied the neural representation of spatial information in the brain , the neural representation of gravity effects on the body , and how the brain adapts to weightlessness .
Go to Profile#869
Rachel Jenkins
#86778
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (76 years)
Rachel McDougall Jenkins is a professor of epidemiology and international mental health policy at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre and a visiting professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
Go to Profile#870
Yoko Kato
#82192
Overall Influence
Yoko Kato is a Japanese neurosurgeon. She is professor and chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at Fujita Health University. She was the first woman in Japan to be promoted to full professor of neurosurgery.
Go to Profile#871
William Drummond Macdonald Paton
#87450
Overall Influence
#872
Souleymane Mboup
#20670
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (74 years)
Souleymane Mboup is a Senegalese microbiologist, medical researcher, and colonel in the Armed Forces of Senegal. In 1985, he was a member of the first team to identify HIV-2, a form of HIV that is typically found in West Africa and is less transmissible than the more common HIV-1. Mboup has contributed to the improvement of Senegal's research infrastructure throughout his career. Among his published works, he is known for editing the 1994 reference book AIDS in Africa. Mboup is currently the President of L'Institut de Recherche en Santé, de Surveillance Épidémiologique et de Formations in D...
Go to Profile#873
L. Adrienne Cupples
#81769
Overall Influence
1944 - 2022 (78 years)
L. Adrienne Cupples was a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the Boston University School of Public Health. Early life and education Cupples was born to Rev. Shirley Sherrill and his wife, Mary Lea Sherrill. She studied history and American studies at Raymond College, part of the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California before earning a masters and doctorate in statistics from Boston University.
Go to Profile#874
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
#49386
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (60 years)
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is an Ethiopian public health official, researcher, and the Director-General of the World Health Organization since 2017. Tedros is the first African to become WHO Director-General, receiving an endorsement for the role by the African Union. He played a role in the response to the Ebola virus epidemic, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2022–2023 mpox outbreak.
Go to Profile#875
Hiroshi Maeda
#48558
Overall Influence
1938 - 2021 (83 years)
was a Japanese pharmacologist and chemist. He was known for his discovery of EPR effect. He published more than 650 papers in reputed journals; the h-index is 115 . Education and career Maeda studied at Tohoku University with a bachelor's degree in 1962, at the University of California, Davis with a master's degree in 1964, and a doctorate in 1967 at Tohoku. He was a post-doctoral at the Sidney Farber Cancer Institute of Harvard University from 1967 to 1971, he also acquired the medical doctorate there.
Go to Profile#876
Johannes W. R. Twisk
#87513
Overall Influence
#877
Sheela Basrur
#63838
Overall Influence
1956 - 2008 (52 years)
Sheela Basrur, was a Canadian physician and Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health and Assistant Deputy Minister of Public Health. She resigned from these positions late in 2006 to undergo treatment for cancer.
Go to Profile#878
Gerry Curatola
#64873
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (68 years)
Gerald Peter Curatola, D.D.S. , is a dentist, Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor at New York University, known for his contributions in cosmetic dentistry. He is a dental contributor to Fox News Channel, AOL Health, and Dr. Oz, and has appeared on the Martha Stewart Show, NBC's Your Total Health, and ABC networks. Curatola is the founder of Rejuvenation Dentistry, and the co-inventor and co-developer of REVITIN Oral Therapy.
Go to Profile#879
Robert Y. Moore
#77303
Overall Influence
1931 - Present (94 years)
Robert Y. Moore is an American neurologist with interests in disorders of biological rhythms, movement disorders, and behavioral neurology. He is credited with discovering the function of the suprachiasmatic nucleus as the circadian clock, as well as, describing its organization. He is also credited with establishing the role of the mammalian retinohypothalamic tract as a photic entrainment pathway. Moore cin 2017 serves as a professor of neurology, with a secondary in psychiatry and neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh, and as co-director of the National Parkinson Foundation Center...
Go to Profile#880
Roberto A. Bolli
#87646
Overall Influence
#881
David L. Turpin
#78978
Overall Influence
David L. Turpin is an American orthodontist who was the editor-in chief for The Angle Orthodontist from 1988 to 1999 and American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics from 1999 to 2010.
Go to Profile#882
Rachelle Buchbinder
#85141
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (67 years)
Rachelle Buchbinder is an Australian rheumatologist and clinical epidemiologist. Her clinical practice is in conjunction with research involving multidisciplinary projects relating to arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions. She promotes improvement of communication with patients and health literacy in the community.
Go to Profile#883
Recep Akdağ
#64444
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (65 years)
Recep Akdağ is a Turkish physician and politician who is a member of the Justice and Development Party. He was one of the last Deputy Prime Ministers of Turkey from 19 July 2017 from 9 July 2018, and served as Minister of Health from 2016 to 2017, and from 2002 to 2013.
Go to Profile#884
Yin Paradies
#87722
Overall Influence
Yin C. Paradies is Alfred Deakin Professor and Chair in Race Relations at Deakin University. He is a Wakaya man known for his research on the health and societal effects of racism, as well as his work on applying anti-racism principles in a wide variety of settings. He also teaches and undertakes research in Indigenous knowledges and decolonisation. In 2007, he received the NAIDOC Scholar of the Year Award. Paradies was elected Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in November 2021.
Go to Profile#885
Barbara Dudley Alexander
#66170
Overall Influence
Barbara Dudley Alexander is an American infectious disease physician. She is a professor of medicine and pathology at the Duke University School of Medicine. Alexander earned an M.D. at ECU Brody School of Medicine in 1993. She completed a residency in medicine at Duke University. She conducted fellowships in infectious diseases and medical microbiology at Duke University. Alexander was president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
Go to Profile#886
Stephen Hahn
#68963
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (65 years)
Stephen Michael Hahn is an American physician who served as the Commissioner of Food and Drugs from 2019 to 2021. Before becoming Commissioner, he was an oncologist serving as Chief Medical Executive of the MD Anderson Cancer Center. In 2021 he became Chief medical officer at the venture capital firm that launched Moderna.
Go to Profile#887
John C. Jr. Burnett
#87980
Overall Influence
#888
James Bernard Seward
#88050
Overall Influence
#889
Katherine Vig
#85456
Overall Influence
Katherine Vig is an American orthodontist. Vig is the past president of American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association. Career Vig received her dental degree from Dundee Dental School at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. She then did her orthodontic training at Eastman Dental Hospital, London. In 1976, she moved to the United States and started teaching at the Orthodontic department at University of North Carolina School of Dentistry. In 1984, she then moved to University of Michigan School of Dentistry, where she was an associated professor in the department of Orthodontics. In 1990, sh...
Go to Profile#890
Miguel Ángel Martínez-González
#85769
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (68 years)
Miguel Ángel Martínez-González is a Spanish medical doctor, epidemiologist, professor, and nutrition researcher He has been often a visiting scholar at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health .
Go to Profile#891
Judith Palfrey
#68073
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (80 years)
Judith Palfrey is the T. Berry Brazelton Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and the author of Community Child Health: An Action Plan for Today and Child Health In America: Making A Difference Through Advocacy , and co-editor of Global Child Health Advocacy and the Disney Encyclopedia of Baby and Childcare . She is also the former Faculty Dean of Adams House at Harvard University along with her husband Sean Palfrey who is also a pediatrician in Boston.
Go to Profile#892
Desmond Julian
#84288
Overall Influence
1926 - 2019 (93 years)
Desmond Gareth Julian was a British cardiologist who pioneered the creation of coronary care units. Life He was professor of cardiology at Newcastle University , medical director of the British Heart Foundation and president of the British Cardiovascular Society .
Go to Profile#893
Michael John Rand
#88152
Overall Influence
#894
Elizabeth Treasure
#48055
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (67 years)
Elizabeth Tulip Treasure FLSW is Vice-Chancellor of Aberystwyth University in Wales, and a former consultant dentist and professor of dentistry. Biography Treasure studied dentistry at the University of Birmingham where she was awarded BDS and PhD degrees. Between 1980 and 1990 she worked in the National Health Service in several clinical roles. She then moved to New Zealand where she worked as a public health dentist and as a lecturer and senior lecturer at the University of Otago.
Go to Profile#895
Barbara J. Stoll
#79594
Overall Influence
Barbara J. Stoll is an American pediatrician and professor. She is the H. Wayne Hightower Distinguished Professor in the Medical Sciences, Professor of Pediatrics and former Dean at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
Go to Profile#896
Carlo Gambacorti-Passerini
#72715
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (68 years)
Carlo Gambacorti-Passerini is an Italian oncologist and hematologist known for his contributions to cancer research. He is Professor of Internal Medicine and Hematology at the University of Milan Bicocca in Italy and Director of the Hematology Department at S. Gerardo Hospital, Monza, Italy. He was Senior Investigator and Head of the Oncogenic Fusion Proteins Unit at the National Cancer Institute, Milan Italy from 1990 to 2003, and Professor of Oncology and Hematology at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from 2004 to 2007.
Go to Profile#897
Margaret Storkan
#87798
Overall Influence
1919 - 2000 (81 years)
Margaret Ann Storkan was an American dermatologist who was clinical professor of dermatology at the University of Southern California. She was particularly known for her work on the sailings of the hospital ship SS Hope to the developing world and for her leprosy clinic in California.
Go to Profile#898
Ernest C. Borden
#88248
Overall Influence
#899
Werner H. Poewe
#88286
Overall Influence
#900
John Hopper
#78015
Overall Influence
John L. Hopper is an Australian genetic epidemiologist and professor at the University of Melbourne, where he is a Professorial Fellow and Director of the Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the School of Population Global Health. He is also a National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Principal Research Fellow, and was one of the first nine Australia Fellows chosen by the NHMRC in 2007. Since 1990, he has been the director of Twins Research Australia .
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