--- description: Find out why Rochelle Walensky is one of the 100 most influential people of 2021. title: Rochelle Walensky: The 100 Most Influential People of 2021 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73e9b1d0d409ed98/698a1cab8fd2ee567e362e1e/dr-rochelle-walensky-time-100-2021.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Sep 15, 2021 # Rochelle Walensky by Julie Gerberding  Rochelle Walensky Stefani Reynolds—The New York Times/Redux Rochelle Walensky Stefani Reynolds—The New York Times/ReduxStefani Reynolds—The New York Times/Redux The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is not the first time that U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director [Dr. Rochelle Walensky](https://time.com/5953200/exclusive-cdc-director-rochelle-walensky-racism-health-initiative/ "undefined") has served on the front lines of a daunting public-health challenge. Positions like her role as a Harvard University clinician-investigator have contributed to a career punctuated by numerous important research contributions to controlling HIV infection, a long-standing threat to people across our nation. Dr. Walensky’s calm courage and proven track record of respecting science—the essential foundation of good public policy—are restoring the CDC’s prominence in leading us through this pandemic. The breadth of her experience and commitment to health equity will no doubt translate to effective leadership in addressing the broader enduring health challenges we face. _Gerberding is an executive vice president at Merck and a former director of the CDC_ Rochelle Walensky Is on the 2021 TIME100 List ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6096028/rochelle-walensky/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6096028/rochelle-walensky/"},"headline":"Rochelle Walensky","datePublished":"2021-09-15T11:16:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:14.088Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6096028/rochelle-walensky/","keywords":["TIME 100","franchise","T100 2021","T100 2021 Leaders"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73e9b1d0d409ed98/698a1cab8fd2ee567e362e1e/dr-rochelle-walensky-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/blt73e9b1d0d409ed98/698a1cab8fd2ee567e362e1e/dr-rochelle-walensky-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-2021/6096028/rochelle-walensky/","name":"Rochelle Walensky"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky & Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith I TIME100 Talks Health Summit","description":"Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith And Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky On Addressing Inequities in Healthcare. Interviewed by Alice Park, TIME Senior Health Correspondent.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/m3Pxl73w/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2021-06-11T14:33:07.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/m3Pxl73w.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6096028/rochelle-walensky/","duration":"PT23M46S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2021/6096028/rochelle-walensky/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```