IT’S A HELLUVA time to be a health care worker right now. Nurses are experiencing workplace violence and burnout. Physicians are battling against Doctor ChatGPT. Scientists are dealing with significant federal funding cuts to vital research. Oh, yeah, and some of the most powerful people in government are not really into science these days. (Lookin’ at you, RFK Jr.)
That’s why now more than ever, Men’s Health wants to shine a light on the people doing essential work in the health care field. The people who are saving lives, pioneering groundbreaking studies, discovering revolutionary treatments, and reforming broken systems. The people who are advancing science and medicine, and changing lives for the better.
Our team reached out to an extensive network of hospitals, universities, companies, and organizations across the country and asked them to nominate the individuals they believe embody a “Health Care Hero.” As we’ve found, it’s not simply in the work they do but how they do it—with empathy, curiosity, and a deep desire to make an impact. After narrowing down the list of nominees, we selected our 2026 Health Care Heroes. Read their stories below.
Ash Tewari, MD
Dr. Tewari is a leading urologist at Mount Sinai who’s redefining men’s health by taking prostate cancer screening on the road. The mobile units have screened more than 10,000 men since 2022—and saved some lives in between.
Joe Bacani, RN
As a cancer survivor diagnosed at just 18 years old, Bacani found his calling as a nurse who cares for young cancer patients like him.
Kevin Hall, PhD
The nutrition research scientist was notably censored by the Trump administration and left his job at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in April 2025. But that won’t stop him from advancing science.
Darien Sutton, MD & Desmond Sutton, MD
One navigates high-risk pregnancies. The other brings calm to emergency room chaos. Both of them are out here saving lives.
Mike Bonanza
Bonanza is the founder of Elevated Access, a nonprofit organization that provides free flights to people seeking reproductive and gender-affirming health care. So far, over 2,700 flights have been flown.
Justin Fiala, MD
The pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine specialist at the Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute launched a free sleep clinic in 2021 that fills a big gap in the health care system.
Jesper Lau, PhD & Thomas Kruse, PhD
In the early 2000s, Dr. Lau and Dr. Kruse began a drug-development project that would turn out to be the most important they’ve ever worked on. Heard of Ozempic?
Ankit Bharat, MD
The chief of thoracic surgery and director of the Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute performed the first known COVID lung transplant in the U.S. and continues to innovate in the field.
Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, PhD, RN
The longtime nurse and president of the American Nurses Association leads advocacy of the millions of nurses across the country. Recently, the ANA pulled together a collective petition to Congress to requalify nurses as professionals following the U.S. Department of Education's new proposed definition of professional degrees.
Michael Peluso, MD
Six years ago, Dr. Peluso and his team launched a first-of-its-kind long COVID tissue bank and have been working to understand the disease ever since.
Colsie Myrie, PNP, RN
Myrie is on the frontlines of pediatric heart care. Recently, over the course of a 351-day hospitalization, she and her team provided care to a then-seven-month-old as he awaited a life-saving heart transplant.
Tomas Cihlar, PhD
Dr. Cihlar and his team of researchers at Gilead have spent decades studying HIV—and their latest innovation could be a game changer for prevention.
Rachel Epstein is the features director at Men's Health and Women's Health, where she leads the brands' most ambitious storytelling across platforms from reported narratives, profiles, and investigations to buzzy, expert-backed service packages. Her work has been nominated for two National Magazine Awards. Offline, she's likely watching a Heat game or finding a new coffee shop.
