19. Dr. John Whyte

Chief medical officer, WebMD

WebMD’s Dr. John Whyte does not proclaim to be a seer. At the same time, he was one of the few experts who anticipated the “infodemic” that would coincide with the coronavirus pandemic. “We really need to keep thinking through how we do our jobs in an environment, like this one, where there can be misinformation,” he told MM+M in late January. “We need to do more to elevate credible information, even if it sometimes is boring.”

Over the course of the last eight months, Whyte has accomplished the former in a manner both entertaining and thoughtful. As the host of WebMD’s near-daily video series Coronavirus in Context with John Whyte, he has engaged in lengthy conversations with everyone from Padma Lakshmi to Tim Tebow to any number of his fellow HI50 honorees (Drs. Fauci, Choo, Redfield, Feinberg, Adams and Topol, among others). Along the way, he has addressed education gaps and concerns around mental health. And he did so while continuing his work as an internist.

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