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,
#1501
Simone Buitendijk
#37828
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (67 years)
Simone Elisabeth Buitendijk is a Dutch academic and the vice-chancellor of the University of Leeds. In October 2023 it was announced that she would be stepping down from the post on 31st December 2023. Her research considers women's health and innovations in education.
Go to Profile#1502
Richard Clapp
#95552
Overall Influence
Richard "Dick" Clapp is an American epidemiologist who is an adjunct professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and an Emeritus Professor of Environmental Health at Boston University School of Public Health. Clapp was Director of the Massachusetts Cancer Registry from 1980 until 1989 and Co-Chair of Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility.
Go to Profile#1503
Günter Oberdörster
#111181
Overall Influence
#1504
Lloyd Saxon Graham
#91271
Overall Influence
1922 - 2012 (90 years)
Lloyd Saxon Graham was an American epidemiologist. Born in Buffalo, New York, Graham completed undergraduate training at Amherst College and earned his PhD from Yale University in 1951. As Chair of the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University at Buffalo, Graham authored work on the nutritional epidemiology of cancer. Graham was author or co-author of over 200 major papers. Graham was a founding Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology and the namesake of two distinguished research prizes at the University of Buffalo, the Saxon Graham Award and Saxon Graham Research Prize, and is commemorated by an ongoing Saxon Graham lecture series on public health.
Go to Profile#1505
Susan L. Cohn
#81344
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (75 years)
Susan Lerner Cohn is a professor of pediatrics and section chief of oncology and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation at the Pritzker School of Medicine of the University of Chicago. She is recognized for her contributions to pediatric oncology research.
Go to Profile#1506
Klaus Viktor Toyka
#111236
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (80 years)
#1507
Lee A. Fleisher
#111244
Overall Influence
#1508
Charles Theodore Dotter
#111246
Overall Influence
#1509
Roy W. Beck
#111310
Overall Influence
#1510
Wei Fu-chan
#100084
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (80 years)
Wei Fu-chan is a Taiwanese surgeon. Wei was born in Tainan and earned a degree in medicine at Kaohsiung Medical College. He received training in plastic surgery at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, led by superintendent , who suggested that Wei "go abroad to bring home something new." Subsequently, Wei pursued medical fellowships at the University of Toronto in Canada and the Christine M. Kleinert Institute for Hand and Micro Surgery at the University of Louisville in the United States. Upon completing his surgical training in 1983, Wei returned to Taiwan, and began his own microsurgery training program at Chang Gung in 1984.
Go to Profile#1511
James Angus
#79627
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (76 years)
James Alexander Angus is an Australian pharmacologist, who has served as the Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria since 12 November 2021. He held the Chair in Pharmacology at the University of Melbourne from 1993 to 2003, and was the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne from 2003 to 2013.
Go to Profile#1512
Silas Dodu
#76441
Overall Influence
1924 - 2007 (83 years)
Silas Rofino Amu Dodu, was a Ghanaian physician and academic. He was a professor of medicine, the second Dean at the University of Ghana Medical School and a pioneer cardiologist in Ghana. He and others have been described as pioneers of the medical profession in Ghana.
Go to Profile#1513
Gypsyamber D'Souza
#74755
Overall Influence
Gypsyamber D'Souza is an American epidemiologist. She is a professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. D'Souza researches infectious diseases , cancer prevention, and translational epidemiology. She is a principal investigator of the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study / Women's Interagency HIV Study Combined Cohort Study .
Go to Profile#1514
George Allan Beller
#111412
Overall Influence
#1515
Ellen Sidransky
#65825
Overall Influence
Ellen Sidransky is an American pediatrician and clinical geneticist in the Medical Genetics Branch of the National Human Genome Research Institute. She is chief of the Molecular Neurogenetics Section.
Go to Profile#1516
Michael Baker
#85871
Overall Influence
Michael George Baker is an epidemiologist with the University of Otago. Baker is a member of the New Zealand Food Safety Authority's Academy and of the New Zealand Ministry of Health's Pandemic Influenza Technical Advisory Group .
Go to Profile#1517
Harry J. Gilbert
#62718
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (72 years)
Harry J. Gilbert is Professor of Agricultural Biochemistry and Nutrition in the Institute For Cell and Molecular Biosciences at Newcastle University. Education Gilbert was educated at the University of Southampton graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1975 followed by a PhD for research investigating mutant forms of the enzyme IMP dehydrogenase in Escherichia coli K12 in 1978.
Go to Profile#1518
Lauri Ellen Markowitz
#111617
Overall Influence
#1519
Leonard John Deftos
#111695
Overall Influence
#1520
Clifford Y. Ko
#111708
Overall Influence
#1521
Tom Solomon
#106893
Overall Influence
Thomas Solomon is Professor of Neurology at the University of Liverpool, director of The Pandemic Institute and director of the National Institute for Health and Care Research Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections. He is also Vice President of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
Go to Profile#1522
Rachel Hardeman
#97799
Overall Influence
Rachel Renee Hardeman is an American public health academic who is associate professor of Division of Health Policy and Management at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. She holds the inaugural Blue Cross Endowed Professorship in Health and Racial Equity. Her research considers how racism impacts health outcomes, particularly for the maternal health of African-Americans.
Go to Profile#1523
Farhad Hafezi
#89853
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (58 years)
Farhad Hafezi is a prominent Swiss eye surgeon and researcher. Hafezi first gained recognition as a leading retina researcher in 1994, having been the first to discover a gene responsible for light-induced retinal degeneration. However, he changed his research focus to the cornea in 2003, and it is this work, particularly on corneal collagen cross-linking , which he helped pioneer, and advanced laser refractive surgery that he is internationally known for today. Hafezi's current clinical and laboratory research is focused on gaining a better understanding of the cornea. His research group at t...
Go to Profile#1524
Salvatore J. Enna
#111780
Overall Influence
#1525
Hiroshi Nishiura
#111878
Overall Influence
#1526
Leif Bertilsson
#111895
Overall Influence
#1527
Franklin García‐godoy
#111916
Overall Influence
#1528
Pavel Hamet
#95659
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (82 years)
Pavel Hamet is a doctor, researcher, editor, administrator and teacher in Quebec. Working in the medical field, he is the Canada Research Chair in Predictive Genomics of hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. He is Professor of Medicine at the University of Montreal, Adjunct Professor of Experimental Medicine at McGill University, and visiting professor at the First Faculty of Medicine at Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. He is currently Chief of Gene Medicine and member of the Endocrinology Services at the University of Montreal's Research Centre . He was designated president of the International Society of Pathophysiology from 2010 to 2014.
Go to Profile#1529
Jean‐claude Roujeau
#111996
Overall Influence
#1530
Cécile Viboud
#104894
Overall Influence
Cécile Viboud is a Staff Scientist based in the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health, where she is part of the Multinational Influenza Seasonal Mortality Study . Viboud specialises in the mortality of infectious disease. Viboud was involved with epidemiological analysis during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Go to Profile#1531
Orin Levine
#110142
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (25 years)
Orin Levine is an epidemiologist known for his work in the fields of international public health, child survival, and pneumonia. He is currently the director of vaccine delivery at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, US. In the past he was the executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center , the co-chair of the Pneumococcal Awareness Council of Experts , and is a professor at The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Department of International Health. He is also an adjunct assistant professor of epidemiology at The Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta.
Go to Profile#1532
Philip I. Murray
#68663
Overall Influence
Philip I. Murray FRCP, FRCS, FRCOphth is Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Birmingham, in England, and Honorary Consultant Ophthalmologist at the Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre. Early life Philip I. Murray was born within earshot of Bow-Bells in London's East End, but grew up in West London. He was educated at Latymer Upper School. Murray represented the school at football and grew to be a loyal supporter and Life Member of his local football club, Brentford FC, better known as, "The Bees". He went on to read medicine at St. George's Hospital Medical School in London, graduati...
Go to Profile#1533
Mohamed Hassan Sayegh
#112248
Overall Influence
#1534
Trilok Chandra Goel
#85887
Overall Influence
1938 - Present (87 years)
Trilok Chandra Goel worked as a Professor of Surgery in King George's Medical University, Lucknow, India between 1986 and 1999. He was re-appointed Emeritus Professor in 2015. Early life Son of Ganga Prasad Goel and his wife Sharbati Goel, Trilok Chandra Goel was born in Dankaur, a village in greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh, India. He was educated in Ghaziabad and then graduated with Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree from King George's Medical University, Lucknow, India topping the final examination to win Hewett Medal in 1962. In 1965, he completed his Master of Surgery from t...
Go to Profile#1535
Roger Detels
#112342
Overall Influence
#1536
William S. Pierce
#83831
Overall Influence
1937 - Present (88 years)
William S. Pierce is the cardiothoracic surgeon and chemical engineer who led development of the first pneumatic heart assist pump. The Pierce-Donachy Ventricular Assist Device, also known as the Penn State Assist Pump, was designated an International Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1990.
Go to Profile#1537
Anna Wald
#107435
Overall Influence
Anna Wald is an American epidemiologist and clinical virology researcher. She is the Head of the Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the University of Washington School of Medicine . Education Wald attended Wesleyan University for her Bachelor of Arts degree, where she was encouraged by a professor to apply to medical school. Wald agreed and graduated from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai with her MD degree in 1985. During her doctoral residency, she worked in inner-city hospitals and AIDS clinics. She moved to Seattle in 1989 and was hired by doctors Ann Collier and Lawrence...
Go to Profile#1538
Luther W. Brady
#112396
Overall Influence
#1539
Christophe Fraser
#104053
Overall Influence
Christophe Fraser is a professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology in the Big Data Institute, part of the Nuffield Department of Medicine at the University of Oxford. Fraser's PhD and initial postdoctoral research were in theoretical particle physics. He converted to infectious disease epidemiology in 1998, based first at the University of Oxford then at Imperial College London, where he became Chair of Theoretical Epidemiology and served as deputy director of the MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling under director Neil Ferguson . He returned to the University of Oxford in 2016 as Senior Group Leader in Pathogen Dynamics at the Big Data Institute.
Go to Profile#1540
Ezra Abraham Amsterdam
#112439
Overall Influence
#1541
José Luís Zamorano
#112501
Overall Influence
#1542
Rogier M. Bertina
#112516
Overall Influence
#1543
J. Bryan Smith
#112542
Overall Influence
#1544
Arjan Vissink
#112582
Overall Influence
#1545
David Celentano
#107934
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (74 years)
David DuPuy Celentano is a noted epidemiologist and professor who has contributed significantly to the promotion of research on HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections . He is the Charles Armstrong chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He holds joint appointments with the school’s departments of Health Policy and Management, Health Behavior and Society, and International Health, and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s Division of Infectious Diseases.
Go to Profile#1546
Lee Merrill Jampol
#112633
Overall Influence
#1547
Stephen Teret
#58807
Overall Influence
Stephen P. Teret is Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he is also Associate Dean for Education and Faculty Development. He is also the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Law and the Public’s Health.
Go to Profile#1548
Harold L. Klawans
#112657
Overall Influence
#1549
Gladys Block
#64947
Overall Influence
Gladys Block is a nutrition researcher who worked at the National Cancer Institute. Education and career From July 1991 onward, Block worked at the University of California, Berkeley as a professor of Community Health and Human Development in the School of Public Health.
Go to Profile#1550
K. M. Venkat Narayan
#112707
Overall Influence
