Although well known in his field for many years, only in the past year has Anthony Fauci became a household name. No matter your opinion of the man himself, it is clear that he has been very important for handling the pandemic in the United States. However, others across the globe also have had impacts on health.

Dr. Zhong Nanshan is considered to be the public face of China’s war against COVID-19. The 83-year-old pulmonologist, a scientist of the respiratory system, has become a well known man in China. He first gained public interest in 2003 with an outbreak of the SARS virus, where he helped research steroid treatment to combat this disease. Since the arrival of this new analogous pandemic, COVID-19, it is no surprise that he would be one of the main researchers for treating viral infection. However, what many were surprised by was his willingness to stand against authority. When Dr. Li Wenliang, one of the earliest COVID-19 whistle blowers, died, Dr. Zhong was one the first to acknowledge that the local police censored Dr. L. Despite. He remains vital to their fight against COVID-19 and was recently listed as one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2020.

Although comparatively not as well known as either Dr. Zhong or Fauci, India’s Harsh Vadhan has nonetheless been very central to the nation’s handling of COVID-19. The 66-year-old Otorhinolaryngologist, a specialist in a surgical field relating to the head and neck, currently serves as the Minister of Health and Family Welfare in India, and as a Chairman of the WHO Executive Board. Much like Dr. Zhong, he isn’t afraid to criticize his government’s actions in handling the COVID-19 virus, despite his usually soft-spoken personality. In fact, this open critique is contradictory from his reputation during the polio vaccine distribution in India, where he received the nickname, “The Good Doctor”.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is in the news quite a lot in recent years, but who exactly has been vital in handling the pandemic? That would be the 56-year-old Ethiopian Biologist Tedros Adhanom. Formerly serving as the Ethiopian minister of health from 2005-2012, his efforts in centralizing the country’s healthcare and the massive progress in health indicators caught the eyes of many. His work as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia from 2012-2016 further increased the number of eyes on him. After running to become the Director-General of the World Health Organization, the only African to do so, in 2016 and 2017, he won both rounds of votes overwhelmingly.

Of course, these are just some of the main heads of the handling the pandemic in their respective countries and around the world. However, this shouldn’t take away from the hundreds of thousands of doctors, scientists, and others working to combat this pandemic. Not to mention the other essential workers who are tirelessly working to defeat the pandemic.