--- title: He Jiankui Is on the 2019 TIME 100 List description: He Jiankui, the scientist who claimed to create the first gene-edited babies using CRISPR, is one of the most influential people of 2019. canonical: https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2019/5567707/he-jiankui/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-04-16T20:18:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-02T23:30:00.070Z og:title: He Jiankui Is on the 2019 TIME 100 List og:description: He Jiankui, the scientist who claimed to create the first gene-edited babies using CRISPR, is one of the most influential people of 2019. og:url: https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2019/5567707/he-jiankui/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5284d554a340f419/698948567cdbac0877d5f5b7/he-jiankui-time-100-2019.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: He Jiankui Is on the 2019 TIME 100 List og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: He Jiankui Is on the 2019 TIME 100 List twitter:description: He Jiankui, the scientist who claimed to create the first gene-edited babies using CRISPR, is one of the most influential people of 2019. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5284d554a340f419/698948567cdbac0877d5f5b7/he-jiankui-time-100-2019.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 16, 2019 # He Jiankui by Jennifer Doudna  Bloomberg Best of the Year 2018: He Jiankui, associate professor at the Southern University of Science and Technology of China, attends a panel discussion at the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing in Hong Kong, China, on Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2018\. Photographer: Anthony Kwan/Bloomberg via Getty Images Bloomberg Best of the Year 2018: He Jiankui, associate professor at the Southern University of Science and Technology of China, attends a panel discussion at the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing in Hong Kong, China, on Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2018\. Photographer: Anthony Kwan/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesAnthony Kwan—Bloomberg/Getty Images Scientist He Jiankui showed the world how human embryo editing is relatively easy to do but incredibly difficult to do well. Going against the consensus in the scientific community that CRISPR-Cas9 technology is still too experimental and dangerous to use in human embryos, he applied it to forever change the genomes of twin girls to give them immunity to HIV. His reckless experimentation on the girls in China not only shattered scientific, medical and ethical norms, it was also medically unnecessary: while the girls’ father is HIV-positive, it’s rare for fathers to pass on the virus to their children, and if they do, potent drugs can now control the infection. Since 2012, when CRISPR-Cas9 transformed research, scientists have purposely taken a cautious and deliberate approach, focusing on how to safely apply genome editing to cure genetic diseases, fight cancer, accelerate drug development, create transplant organs and develop more nutritious crops. Its potential to improve our lives is enormous. But its potential to harm, with unintended side effects, is still unknown. As the scientific community now works to establish stronger safeguards, He’s fateful decision to ignore the basic medical mantra of “do no harm” and risk the unintended consequences will likely be remembered as one of the most shocking misapplications of any scientific tool in our history. _Doudna is a co-inventor of CRISPR-Cas9, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and a co-author of_ A Crack in Creation ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2019/5567707/he-jiankui/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2019/5567707/he-jiankui/"},"headline":"He Jiankui","datePublished":"2019-04-16T20:18:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:30:00.070Z","description":"He Jiankui, the scientist who claimed to create the first gene-edited babies using CRISPR, is one of the most influential people of 2019.","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2019/5567707/he-jiankui/","keywords":["T100 2019 Pioneers","2019 TIME 100"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5284d554a340f419/698948567cdbac0877d5f5b7/he-jiankui-time-100-2019.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5284d554a340f419/698948567cdbac0877d5f5b7/he-jiankui-time-100-2019.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2019/5567707/he-jiankui/","name":"He Jiankui"}}]}] ```