--- title: TIME100 Health: Priti Bandi description: Find out why Priti Bandi is on the TIME100 Health 2026 list. canonical: https://time.com/collections/time100-health-2026/7362614/priti-bandi/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-02-11T13:01:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-03T01:07:14.562Z article:section: Health og:title: TIME100 Health: Priti Bandi og:description: Find out why Priti Bandi is on the TIME100 Health 2026 list. og:url: https://time.com/collections/time100-health-2026/7362614/priti-bandi/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte18f992f819b93e2/6998ce4ea97fc0ac4fa75289/T100-Health-2026-Bandi.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME100 Health: Priti Bandi og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: TIME100 Health: Priti Bandi twitter:description: Find out why Priti Bandi is on the TIME100 Health 2026 list. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte18f992f819b93e2/6998ce4ea97fc0ac4fa75289/T100-Health-2026-Bandi.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Feb 11, 2026 # Priti Bandi Tracking cancer screenings by [Charlotte Hu](/author/charlotte-hu/) ## Charlotte Hu Associate Editor  Courtesy of Priti Bandi Priti Bandi, scientific director of cancer risk factors and screening surveillance research at the American Cancer Society, has spent the last two decades trying to figure out what keeps people from getting screened for cancer earlier, when the disease tends to be much more treatable. Take lung cancer, the [deadliest kind of cancer in the U.S.](https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/lung-cancer/about/key-statistics.html "undefined") with one of the lowest screening rates. In [research](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2841694 "undefined") published in November 2025 in _JAMA_, Bandi and her team found that screening every eligible U.S. adult for lung cancer could prevent more than 62,000 deaths from the disease over five years. “Certain groups have low uptake year on year because the bigger picture questions are not being addressed, which is access to care,” Bandi says. “Even a small cost burden can prevent you from taking up screening.” So can external factors, she and her team have found, such as events like a pandemic, stigma or shame around smoking, and the availability of technologies like CT scans at rural facilities. The American Cancer Society's advocacy affiliate, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), uses data like Bandi’s to advocate in government to make cancer screening more accessible. “Good science moves good policy,” Bandi says. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-health-2026/7362614/priti-bandi/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-health-2026/7362614/priti-bandi/"},"headline":"Priti Bandi","datePublished":"2026-02-11T13:01:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T01:07:14.562Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-health-2026/7362614/priti-bandi/","keywords":["TIME100 Health 2026","list","franchise","Magazine","Special Project","sponsorshipblock","Accolades"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte18f992f819b93e2/6998ce4ea97fc0ac4fa75289/T100-Health-2026-Bandi.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Hu","jobTitle":"Associate Editor","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-hu/"}],"creator":"Charlotte Hu","articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte18f992f819b93e2/6998ce4ea97fc0ac4fa75289/T100-Health-2026-Bandi.png?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/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time100-health-2026/","name":"TIME100 Health 2026"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-health-2026/7362614/priti-bandi/","name":"Priti Bandi"}}]}] ```