--- description: Find out why Barney Graham is one of the 100 most influential people of 2021. title: Barney Graham: The 100 Most Influential People of 2021 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04cd8dd320c4eff2/698a1ca88fd2ee5225362e12/barney-graham-time-100-2021.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Sep 15, 2021 # Barney Graham by Anthony Fauci  Dr. Barney Graham Greg Kahn Dr. Barney Graham Greg KahnGreg Kahn An extraordinary physician-scientist, Barney Graham has made major contributions to vaccinology for decades. He helped pioneer the field of structure-based [vaccine design](https://time.com/6092630/covid-19-vaccine-card-design/ "undefined"), which relies on understanding the mechanics of how viruses and human cells bind and interact—thus enabling transformative advances against important viral diseases, including COVID-19. Dr. Graham’s major technological breakthrough enabled scientists to take viral proteins that provoke a potent immune response—such as the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, a structure essential for the virus to infect cells—and hold it in the exact shape the protein assumes before fusing with a human cell. The resulting form is the foundation for many successful COVID-19 vaccines used globally today. Once injected, these vaccines teach our immune systems to identify and bind to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein—and, by extension, [better protect us](https://time.com/6096172/covax-vaccines-what-went-wrong/ "undefined") against COVID-19 going forward. A thought leader in vaccine design and pandemic preparedness, Dr. Graham has helped save millions of lives and altered the course of the [COVID-19 pandemic](https://time.com/5960529/anthony-fauci-profile/ "undefined"). _Fauci is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the U.S. National Institutes of Health_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6095969/barney-graham/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6095969/barney-graham/"},"headline":"Barney Graham","datePublished":"2021-09-15T11:19:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:13.476Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6095969/barney-graham/","keywords":["TIME 100","franchise","T100 2021"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04cd8dd320c4eff2/698a1ca88fd2ee5225362e12/barney-graham-time-100-2021.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/blt04cd8dd320c4eff2/698a1ca88fd2ee5225362e12/barney-graham-time-100-2021.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-2021/6095969/barney-graham/","name":"Barney Graham"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME100 | See Everyone on the 2021 TIME100 List","description":"See every 2021 TIME100 Honoree in One Minute","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ZgB6AGK2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2021-09-15T10:45:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ZgB6AGK2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6095969/barney-graham/","duration":"PT57S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6095969/barney-graham/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```