Indian American Reshma Kewalramani and Bangladesh’s Muhammad Yunus Among Time’s Most Influential People in the World
- Kewalramani was named CEO of Boston, Massachusetts-based Vertex Pharmaceuticals in 2020, becoming the first female CEO of a large, public U.S. biotechnology company.
Indian American Reshma Kewalramani, president and chief executive officer of Boston, Massachusetts-based Vertex Pharmaceuticals, is among TIME100, the magazine’s annual list of the most influential people who are transforming the world. Joining her is Muhammad Yunus, an economist, entrepreneur, statesman, and civil society leader, who has been serving as the Chief Adviser of the interim government of Bangladesh since last August.
Reshma Kewalramani was named CEO of Vertex in 2020, becoming the first female CEO of a large, public U.S. biotechnology company. She immigrated to the U.S. from India at age 11. She trained in internal medicine and nephrology before entering the biopharmaceutical industry, where she has dedicated her career to discovering and developing new medicines. She joined Vertex in 2017, served as Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of Global Medicines Development and Medical Affairs, and became CEO.
“Under her leadership, Vertex secured the first-ever FDA approval for a CRISPR-based therapy, which treats sickle cell disease by correcting patients’ own DNA mutations,” Jason Kelly wrote in the TIME essay on Kewalramani. “Our bodies speak the language of DNA,” wrote Kelly, co-founder and CEO of Ginkgo Bioworks. “Our best drugs in the future will use DNA to talk directly back to our bodies, leading to many more cures.”
Kewalramani sat on the board of Ginkgo Bioworks, Kelly wrote, adding that “her insights proved invaluable.”
Kewalramani serves on Year Up’s national board of directors, the Biomedical Science Careers Program’s board of directors, the Massachusetts General Hospital board of trustees, and the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine Dean’s Advisory Board. She has received several distinguished honors and awards for her leadership and contributions to science and innovation.
She completed her internship and residency in internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and her fellowship in nephrology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital combined program. She received her medical degree, with honors, from the seven-year medicine program at the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and is a Fellow of the American Society of Nephrology. She is an alumna of the Harvard Business School, having completed the General Management Program.
After a student-led uprising toppled Bangladesh’s authoritarian Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed’s government last year, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus stepped up to guide the nation toward democracy. He is currently the Chief Adviser of the interim government of Bangladesh. Yunus pioneered microcredit in Bangladesh, and established the Grameen Bank to empower the most marginalized communities through small loans, helping millions—97% of them women—build businesses, sustain their families, and reclaim their dignity.
Hillary Clinton first met Yunus when he traveled to Arkansas “to help then-governor Bill Clinton and me set up similar programs in the U.S., the former U.S. Senator and Secretary of State wrote in TIME. “Since then, wherever she traveled, she witnessed the extraordinary impact of his work—lives transformed, communities lifted, and hope reborn.” Now, as Yunus “shepherds Bangladesh out of the shadows of oppression, he is restoring human rights, demanding accountability, and laying the foundations for a just and free society,” Clinton wrote.
Yunus entered Bangladeshi politics in February 2007 by forming a political party, Nagorik Shakti (Citizen Power), and announcing his intention to contest the upcoming election. He promised his movement would seek to restore good governance and eliminate corruption. However, Yunus dropped his efforts to establish the party in three months, citing a lack of support.
Yunus wrote several books, including “Building Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism That Serves Humanity’s Most Pressing Needs” (2010) and “A World of Three Zeroes: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions” (2017). His honors include Bangladesh’s prestigious Independence Day Award (1987), the World Food Prize (United States, 1994), and the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009). He was the first recipient of the King Hussein Humanitarian Award (Jordan, 2000).