--- description: Find out why Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is one of the 100 most influential people of 2025. title: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: The 100 Most Influential People of 2025 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3de32b2869c920a/6998c5ca07a30d8ec477ceae/time100-2025-tedros-adhanom-ghebreyesus.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 16, 2025 # Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus ## Video: TIME100 2025 | See Every Honoree [Watch (HLS stream): TIME100 2025 | See Every Honoree](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6HpL33vZ.m3u8) (3:55)  _Published 2025-04-16. See every 2025 TIME100 honoree._ by Larry Brilliant  Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, poses during a photo session at the Palais Brongniart for the New Global Financial Pact Summit in Paris on June 22, 2023\. (Photo by JOEL SAGET / AFP) (Photo by JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images) Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, poses during a photo session at the Palais Brongniart for the New Global Financial Pact Summit in Paris on June 22, 2023\. (Photo by JOEL SAGET / AFP) (Photo by JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images)Joel Saget—AFP/Getty Images There have been seven directors-general of the World Health Organization since my first WHO job in India 50 years ago. They were dedicated physicians, scientists, and global diplomats. I have known them all. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had been DG for less than a year when he went to Thailand for an award ceremony recognizing leaders in medicine and public health. A group of dignitaries was onstage when a group of raucous singers and dancers swept up onto the stage and invited everyone to join them in a conga line. It is hard for me to imagine any of the previous DGs dancing in that conga line. But Tedros joined enthusiastically, and that is how I met this sui generis man who has transformed the global health landscape with visionary leadership and relentless support for science-based decisionmaking. He has many firsts: the first DG from Africa, the first nonphysician, the first to face a global pandemic that killed millions, and now, the first to face the possibility of an irrational American withdrawal from the organization, which the U.S. helped found in 1948 and which has worked to keep Americans safer and healthier every year since then. Tedros has been a gift to [global health](https://time.com/6899739/covid-19-pandemic-agreement-who/ "undefined"). He has carried the awesome responsibility of a global agency responsible for the health of people in over 194 countries—with an annual budget that works out to about 85¢ per person—with courage and wisdom. His leadership is principled. It is authentic. It is outcome-oriented. And he has made the world healthier than ever. _Brilliant is an epidemiologist who helped eradicate smallpox_ Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Is on the 2025 TIME100 List ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2025/7273797/tedros-adhanom-ghebreyesus/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2025/7273797/tedros-adhanom-ghebreyesus/"},"headline":"Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus","datePublished":"2025-04-16T10:30:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T02:28:59.033Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2025/7273797/tedros-adhanom-ghebreyesus/","keywords":["TIME100","franchise","Magazine","Special Project","sponsorshipblock","Accolades","T100Leaders2025"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3de32b2869c920a/6998c5ca07a30d8ec477ceae/time100-2025-tedros-adhanom-ghebreyesus.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":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3de32b2869c920a/6998c5ca07a30d8ec477ceae/time100-2025-tedros-adhanom-ghebreyesus.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":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2025/7273797/tedros-adhanom-ghebreyesus/","name":"Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME100 2025 | See Every Honoree","description":"See every 2025 TIME100 honoree.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/6HpL33vZ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2025-04-16T10:30:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6HpL33vZ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2025/7273797/tedros-adhanom-ghebreyesus/","duration":"PT3M55S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2025/7273797/tedros-adhanom-ghebreyesus/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```