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.