--- description: Find out why Joel Habener, Svetlana Mojsov, and Dan Drucker is one of the 100 most influential people of 2024. title: Joel Habener, Svetlana Mojsov, and Dan Drucker: The 100 Most Influential People of 2024 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltabff8780e1ba5b42/698a55acb3fce341810cd0b9/time-100-2024-Dan-Drucker-Joel-Habener-Svetlana-Mojsov.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 17, 2024 # Joel Habener, Svetlana Mojsov, and Dan Drucker by Alice Park  Courtesy Joel Habener; John Abbott—The Rockefeller University; Courtesy Daniel Drucker The advent of effective weight-loss medications like Wegovy is the culmination of years of teamwork. Scientists in Europe and the U.S., first working on diabetes drugs, made a critical connection between insulin and incretins, part of a family of gut hormones known as glucagons, thus helping them to understand how to manage blood-sugar levels and weight. At the University of Copenhagen, Jens Juul Holst noticed that after intestinal surgery, the hormone glucagon increased people’s insulin levels. Around the same time, Joel Habener and Dan Drucker, from Massachusetts General Hospital, [discovered two forms of glucagon](https://www.wired.com/story/obesity-drugs-researcher-interview-ozempic-wegovy/ "undefined"), including GLP-1, a form of which is now in Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound; and Svetlana Mojsov, a chemist, synthesized GLP-1 and developed antibodies against it for critical early studies. Drucker’s experiments pinpointed the specific parts of GLP-1 responsible for affecting insulin levels. Now GLP-1-based medications are approved in the U.S. to treat diabetes and obesity, and to reduce the risk of heart disease. And there’s more to come—researchers are studying other potential benefits of GLP-1 drugs, including lowering the risk of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, kidney, and liver diseases. _Park is a TIME senior correspondent_ Joel Habener, Svetlana Mojsov, and Dan Drucker Is on the 2024 TIME100 List ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2024/6964971/joel-habener-svetlana-mojsov-dan-drucker/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2024/6964971/joel-habener-svetlana-mojsov-dan-drucker/"},"headline":"Joel Habener, Svetlana Mojsov, and Dan Drucker: The 100 Most Influential People of 2024","datePublished":"2024-04-17T10:55:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:28:47.661Z","description":"Find out why they are three of the 100 most influential people of 2024.","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2024/6964971/joel-habener-svetlana-mojsov-dan-drucker/","keywords":["TIME100","franchise","Magazine","Special Project","sponsorshipblock","Accolades","2024TIME100","T100Pioneers2024"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltabff8780e1ba5b42/698a55acb3fce341810cd0b9/time-100-2024-Dan-Drucker-Joel-Habener-Svetlana-Mojsov.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/bltabff8780e1ba5b42/698a55acb3fce341810cd0b9/time-100-2024-Dan-Drucker-Joel-Habener-Svetlana-Mojsov.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-2024/6964971/joel-habener-svetlana-mojsov-dan-drucker/","name":"Joel Habener, Svetlana Mojsov, and Dan Drucker: The 100 Most Influential People of 2024"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"See Everyone on the TIME100 2024 list","description":"Find out why they are three of the 100 most influential people of 2024.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/73p9kgIN/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2024-04-17T11:00:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/73p9kgIN.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2024/6964971/joel-habener-svetlana-mojsov-dan-drucker/","duration":"PT1M59S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2024/6964971/joel-habener-svetlana-mojsov-dan-drucker/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```