Two Italians Among Time's Top 100 Health Personalities

There are also two Italians among the 100 most influential personalities in the field of health and healthcare according to the new ranking published by Time magazine. On the cover of 'Time100 Health 2025', also visible on the magazine's online site, appears the face of the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, first in the 'Tytans' section of the ranking. Among the 100 names also appear those of Francesco Rubino, in the 'Leader' category, and Lorenzo Guglielmetti in the 'Catalysts' category.

Among the top personalities, the Titans also include Jay Bhattacharya, head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of the United States, responsible for managing 35 billion dollars a year for biomedical research, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, current secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services of the United States, the Princess of Wales Kate Middleton and the philanthropist Melinda French Gates.

Rubino is head of metabolic and bariatric surgery at King's College London. In 2024, he led a group of 50 experts commissioned by the Lancet magazine to redefine obesity as a disease. The goal is to improve its diagnosis and treatment. Lorenzo Guglielmetti is instead co-principal investigator of the End Tb project: in 2025, he published in the New England Journal of Medicine a study relating to three new oral drug therapies for the treatment of rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis, which have proven effective with a reduction in treatment times and reduced side effects.

Guglielmetti, 'surprised by the Time quote. An award for the fight against a forgotten disease. Now to Negrar for a new challenge'

Years spent in the field with Doctors Without Borders, to fight TB where it causes the most victims. Lorenzo Guglielmetti, mentioned by Time magazine in the ranking of the 100 most influential people in the field of Global Health, does not hide his joy and surprise for this recognition that rewards his work and studies on this 'forgotten' disease, conducted together with MSF with the support of two other NGOs (Partners In Health and Interactive Research and Development). Now, however, he tells ANSA, "I am preparing for a new experience: in June I will return to Italy to carry out my research at the IRCCS Sacro Cuore in Negrar: returning to Italy is a great challenge for me and I am taking it as an opportunity".

"I graduated in Medicine in Verona and then studied abroad, in Paris at the Sorbonne, to perfect my skills in epidemiology and global health. Then, with MSF, I began to work on the ground in various countries dealing with TB and in particular drug-resistant forms", he explains. But the idea of ​​returning to Italy has never left him: "I know that a challenge awaits me, but this at the same time gives me enthusiasm. It is true, in fact, that in Italy the funds allocated to research are limited compared to other nations, but it is also true that cuts to research are now starting to weigh elsewhere too, from France to the USA, and in the United States with the Trump administration we are even starting to question the very principle of freedom of research. In Italy - the researcher underlines - I will work at Negrar, which is a scientific hospital and treatment institute specialized in tropical diseases, and I will be able to develop free research, independent from the commercial sphere and whose results can have a concrete impact on the countries of the Global South, where TB is a crucial issue. TB is the world's leading cause of mortality related to infectious diseases, causing 1.3 million deaths per year and more than 10 million cases worldwide. Unfortunately, the situation is alarming, particularly in the countries of the global South".

So, "being in this ranking is a great recognition for me: not personal but for the ten-year effort made by various non-governmental organizations in a field in which there is today, unfortunately, a vacuum of funding but also of interest, such as that of 'forgotten' infectious diseases such as tuberculosis. Today, we risk taking enormous steps backwards due to the cuts in international funding decided by the USA. It is important to shine a light on all of this".

Time's ranking also includes personalities such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr, current secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services: "Time made an evaluation based on the impact linked to the various names, but without giving a judgment of positivity or negativity. I believe the criterion was to 'measure' the influence and in this case Kennedy, a figure much criticized for his positions - concludes Guglielmetti - is unfortunately having a strong impact on healthcare and research in the United States and in the world".