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,

#1051

Véronique L. Roger

#95594
Overall Influence
Véronique L. Roger is a French cardiologist and epidemiologist. She is a senior investigator and chief of the laboratory of heart disease phenomics at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Life Roger received a medical degree in 1986 from Sorbonne University and a Master in Public Health in Epidemiology at the University of Minnesota in 1996. After training in cardiology at the Mayo Clinic, she joined the faculty in 1992 and became professor in medicine in 2002 and epidemiology in 2006. At the Mayo Clinic, Roger served in various leadership positions including chair of the department of health sciences research and member of the Mayo Clinic board of governors and board of trustees.
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#1052

Emeran Mayer

#78805
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (75 years)
Emeran Anton Mayer is a gastroenterologist, lecturer, author, editor, neuroscientist, documentary filmmaker and a professor in the Departments of Medicine, Physiology and Psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He is a pioneer of medical research into brain gut interactions
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#1053

Nairn Wilson

#75263
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (75 years)
Sir Nairn Hutchison Fulton Wilson is the Honorary Professor of Dentistry, former Professor of Restorative Dentistry and Dean and Head of King's College London Dental Institute from 2001 until 2012 and Deputy Vice Principal between 2009 and 2012.
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#1054

Henri Bismuth

#96099
Overall Influence
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#1055

Bruno Dubois

#96105
Overall Influence
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#1056

John Michael Gaziano

#96156
Overall Influence
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#1057

Fran Baum

#74256
Overall Influence
Fran Baum is an Australian social scientist who conducts research on the social and economic influences and determinants of health. She is director of the Southgate Institute of Health, Society and Equity at Flinders University, Australia, and became an Officer of the Order of Australia for her advocacy work on "improved access to community health care, and to professional organisations". In 2006, Baum was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.
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#1058

H. Rodney Withers

#85494
Overall Influence
1932 - 2015 (83 years)
H. Rodney Withers was an Australian radiation biologist and physician. He made many contributions to the fields of radiobiology and clinical radiation therapy, but he is best known for his work on post-radiation tissue repair and the effects of ionizing radiation on normal tissues.
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#1059

Richard W. Mccallum

#96328
Overall Influence
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#1060

Sharon Kardia

#85420
Overall Influence
Sharon Lee Reilly Kardia is an American epidemiologist. She is the Millicent W. Higgins Collegiate Professor of Epidemiology and Associate Dean for Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Her research interests involve genetic epidemiology of common chronic diseases.
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#1061

Allan Mark Lefer

#96472
Overall Influence
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#1062

William J. Evans

#96527
Overall Influence
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#1063

Hosney Yosef

#77994
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (25 years)
Hosney Mohammed Ahmed Ali Yosef OBE is a former radiologist, who was in 2006 made OBE in recognition of his services to medicine in western Scotland. Yosef was born in Egypt and came to Scotland in 1974 to work as a cancer specialist at Hairmyres Hospital. was a senior consultant in clinical oncology at the Beatson Oncology Centre in Glasgow and an honorary clinical senior lecturer at the University of Glasgow. He became a naturalised British citizen in 1978.
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#1064

Egil Peter Harvold

#77962
Overall Influence
1912 - 1992 (80 years)
Egil Peter Harvold was an American orthodontist who is known for developing a Cephalometric analysis known as Harvold Analysis. He also is known to have contributed significantly towards the understanding of the orofacial clefts and craniofacial development.
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#1065

Stuart James Connolly

#96744
Overall Influence
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#1066

Alexander MacAra

#70707
Overall Influence
1932 - 2012 (80 years)
Alexander Wiseman MacAra , also known as Sandy MacAra, was a Scottish professor of epidemiology at Bristol University and chairman of British Medical Association from 1993 to 1998. Early life Alexander Wiseman MacAra was born on 4 May 1932 in Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland. Both his father and grandfather were Church of Scotland Ministers. Marion, his mother, was a civil servant. When he was six years old, MacAra was treated for paratyphoid fever, acute appendicitis and whooping cough.
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#1067

David Fisman

#83157
Overall Influence
David N. Fisman is a University of Toronto professor in the area of epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. He also works as an infectious disease specialist and consultant at the University Health Network.
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#1068

Yasmin Altwaijri

#89479
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (25 years)
Yasmin Ahmed Almubarak Altwaijri is a Senior Scientist and the Head of Epidemiology Research at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. As the Head of Epidemiology Research, she studies the causes and effects of diseases and illnesses within a specific country, in her case Saudi Arabia. She studies the prevalence of conditions such as obesity and mental illness in Saudi society, and is active in advocating for social and political changes to promote better health.
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#1069

Robert Zachary

#64128
Overall Influence
1913 - 1999 (86 years)
Robert Bransby Zachary was an English paediatric surgeon who spent the majority of his career at Sheffield Children's Hospital. He was an expert on the treatment of spina bifida and hydrocephalus. Career Robert Zachary was born in 1913 in Pudsey to Samuel John Zachary, a dentist, and Priscilla Mary . He earned a Bachelor of Pharmacy in 1935 before completing a medical degree at the University of Leeds in 1940. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1943, originally working on orthopaedics at Oxford's Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre. He changed specialties in 1945 to paediatric surgery and received a grant to train at Boston Children's Hospital.
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#1070

Kyle Steenland

#75010
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (79 years)
Kyle Steenland is an American epidemiologist and professor in the department of environmental health epidemiology at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health. Education Steenland received a BA in history from Stanford University in 1968, a PhD in history from the University at Buffalo in 1974, a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1985, and an MS in mathematics from the University of Cincinnati in 1989.
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#1071

Afua Adwo Jectey Hesse

#50684
Overall Influence
Afua Adwo Jectey Hesse, , is a Ghanaian surgeon and the first Ghanaian-trained female doctor to become a paediatric surgeon. In August 2010, she became the first Ghanaian and second African to be elected President of the Medical Women's International Association .
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#1072

David Kerr

#91237
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (69 years)
Professor David James Kerr CBE is a British Cancer Researcherer. His primary area of research is treatment and management of colorectal cancer. He served as Chief Research Advisor at Sidra Medical and Research Center in Doha, Qatar. David James Kerr is Professor of Cancer Medicine and Former Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He was also President-Elect for European Society for Medical Oncology .
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#1073

Terri H. Finkel

#77575
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (73 years)
Terri H. Finkel is an American pediatric rheumatologist and immunologist who is the Children's Foundation of Memphis Endowed Chair and tenured professor of pediatrics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Previously, she was the pediatrician-in-chief, chair of pediatrics and chief scientific officer at Nemours Children's Hospital. She is known for her research into autoimmunity, AIDS, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and cancer. Her work has been recognized in more than 200 publications, 10 U.S. patents, and 4 licensed technologies.
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#1074

Genoveffa Franchini

#44738
Overall Influence
Genoveffa Franchini is an Italian-American hematologist and retrovirologist. She is a senior investigator in the vaccine branch and head of the animal models and retroviral vaccines section at the National Cancer Institute. Franchini has pioneered research on oncogenes and human retroviruses. She researches HIV vaccine development and translational methods of disease prevention.
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#1075

Fritz E. Dreifuss

#85057
Overall Influence
1926 - 1997 (71 years)
Fritz E. Dreifuss, MD was a German-born, New Zealand-educated, American neurologist and subspecialist in epilepsy based at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, US. Early life Dreifuss was born in Dresden, Germany. To escape German state persecution of Jews, the Dreifuss family emigrated to New Zealand, arriving in 1937. His father began a general practice in medicine.
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#1076

Franco Locatelli

#97112
Overall Influence
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#1077

Howard E. Gendelman

#93844
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (71 years)
Howard E. Gendelman is an American physician-scientist whose research intersects the disciplines of neuroimmunology, pharmacology, and infectious diseases. Gendelman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His research is focused on harnessing immune responses for therapeutic gain in HIV/AIDS and Neurodegenerative disease. He is the Margaret R. Larson Professor of infectious diseases and internal medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.
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#1078

Emily Banks

#86222
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (57 years)
Emily Banks is an Australian epidemiologist and public health physician, working mainly on chronic disease. She is a Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health and Head of the Centre for Public Health Data and Policy at the Australian National University, and a visiting professor at the University of Oxford.
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#1079

Raffaele De Caterina

#97218
Overall Influence
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#1080

Melina Kibbe

#91851
Overall Influence
Melina R. Kibbe is an American clinician and researcher in the field of vascular surgery. She currently serves as Dean of the University of Virginia School of Medicine. She previously held the Colin G. Thomas Jr. Distinguished Professorship and Chair of the Department of Surgery at UNC School of Medicine.
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#1081

Bridget Robinson

#48069
Overall Influence
Bridget Anne Robinson is a New Zealand oncology academic. As of 2018, she is a full professor at the University of Otago, holding the Mackenzie Chair since 2010. Academic career After a 1985 MD titled 'Effects of vasoactive agents on tumour blood flow and cytotoxic drug uptake' at the University of Otago, followed by a 1987 PhD of the same title, Robinson joined the staff in Christchurch in 1997, rising to full professor.
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#1082

Jeanne Sinkford

#32275
Overall Influence
1933 - Present (92 years)
Jeanne Craig Sinkford is an American dentist and academic administrator. She was the first female dean of an American dental school. She is a senior scholar in residence at the American Dental Education Association and a professor and dean emeritus at the dental school of Howard University.
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#1083

Betty Kitchener

#39502
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (74 years)
Betty Ann Kitchener is an Australian mental health educator who co-founded Mental health first aid training. Career Betty Kitchener trained as a teacher, counsellor and nurse. She is also a mental health consumer advocate, having experienced recurrent major depression. She has held academic appointments at the Australian National University and the University of Melbourne. Until the end of 2016, she was CEO of Mental Health First Aid Australia. She held an honorary Adjunct Professorship at Deakin University from 2013 to 2019.
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#1084

Dirk Jan Van Veldhuisen

#97440
Overall Influence
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#1085

Raymond A. Applegate

#97311
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (76 years)
Raymond A. Applegate is an American optometrist and a co-founder of International Congress on Wavefront Sensing and Aberration-Free Refraction Correction. He is the Borish Chair in Optometry at the University of Houston.
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#1086

Shervin Assari

#97588
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (25 years)
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#1087

Sheila M. Riggs

#73516
Overall Influence
Sheila M. Riggs serves as chair of the Department of Primary Dental Care at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry as well as the community engagement director for the University's Clinical and Translational Science Institute. In these roles, she pursues a wide range of research interests as well as providing leadership to the pioneering Dental Therapy Program within her department. The Dental Therapist program in Minnesota is among the first to be developed and accredited in the US and is designed to increase access to dental care for underserved populations.
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#1088

Charles P. O'Brien

#73039
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (86 years)
Charles P. O'Brien is a research scientist, medical educator and a leading expert in the science and treatment of addiction. He is board certified in neurology, psychiatry and addiction psychiatry. He is currently the Kenneth E. Appel Professor of Psychiatry, and vice chair of psychiatry, in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
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#1089

Herman D. Suit

#97707
Overall Influence
1929 - Present (96 years)
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#1090

Richard Mattes

#93146
Overall Influence
Richard D. Mattes is an American nutrition scientist and distinguished professor in the department of nutrition science at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. He has been described as one of America's leading nutrition scientists.
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#1091

Roger Kirby

Roger Kirby
#70959
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (75 years)
Roger Sinclair Kirby FRCS, FEBU is a British retired prostate surgeon and professor of urology, researcher, writer on men's health and prostate disease, founding editor of the journal Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases and Trends in Urology and Men's Health and a fundraiser for prostate disease charities, best known for his use of the da Vinci surgical robot for laparoscopic prostatectomy in the treatment of prostate cancer. He is a co-founder and president of the charity The Urology Foundation , vice-president of the charity Prostate Cancer UK, trustee of the King Edward VII's Hospital a...
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#1092

John Owusu Gyapong

#60025
Overall Influence
Professor John Owusu Gyapong is a Ghanaian Professor of Epidemiology. He is currently the Vice Chancellor of the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho Ghana. Education Gyapong obtained an MB ChB degree from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in 1987. He undertook his postgraduate studies at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, England where he earned an MSc in public health in developing countries in 1993, and later a Ph.D in Epidemiology in 1997.
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#1093

Thomas J. Ryan

#97949
Overall Influence
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#1094

Muir Gray

Muir Gray
#71592
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (81 years)
Sir John Armstrong Muir Gray is a British physician, who has held senior positions in screening, public health, information management. and value in healthcare. He is the Chief Knowledge Officer for EXI, a digital health therapeutic company prescribing exercise to people with or at risk of up to 23 long-term health conditions, and Chief Wellbeing Officer for Learning with Experts, a health related online learning company working with the NHS.
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#1095

Barry A. Franklin

#97988
Overall Influence
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#1096

Val Curtis

#62646
Overall Influence
1958 - 2020 (62 years)
Valerie Curtis was a British scientist who was Director of the Environmental Health Group at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. This is a multidisciplinary group dedicated to improving hygiene, sanitation and water in households and schools through enhancing knowledge.
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#1097

H. Gilbert Welch

H. Gilbert Welch
#90265
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (70 years)
H. Gilbert Welch is an American academic physician and cancer researcher. He was an internist at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in White River Junction, Vermont, as well as a professor of medicine at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. In September 2018, Welch resigned from Dartmouth College after a 20-month long research misconduct investigation at Dartmouth concluded he had committed plagiarism.
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#1098

C. Daniel Johnson

#79058
Overall Influence
1934 - Present (91 years)
Charles Daniel Johnson is an American radiologist. Johnson graduated from the College of Idaho with a degree in zoology. He subsequently studied medicine at Mayo Medical School, where he later completed medical residencies in internal medicine and diagnostic radiology. Johnson pursued a master's degree in diagnostic radiology from the University of Minnesota, followed by a fellowship and research training at Duke University. Johnson holds a second master's degree in medical management from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a professor of radiology and consultant to the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine Department of Radiology.
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#1099

Fuat Oduncu

#59195
Overall Influence
1970 - Present (55 years)
Fuat Shamoun Oduncu is a German hematologist, oncologist and biomedical ethicist. He is professor for medicine at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and known for his work in the fields of oncology, palliative care, medical ethics and health economics.
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#1100

Lars Engebretsen

#98150
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (76 years)
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