When Time Magazine released the Time 100, its list of the 100 most influential people of our times, it divided the list into five categories:

Artists & Entertainers
Scientists & Thinkers
Leaders & Revolutionaries
Builders & Titans
Heroes & Pioneers

As with any list of this sort, you will find obvious and not so obvious choices, and you will wonder, as I did, why they neglected to include this entertainer or that hero. Or it might be the reverse, as in "how in the world did that bozo make the cut?"

One entry that gets no argument from me, however, is Douglas Melton in Scientists & Thinkers. At 53, he's the Co-Director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, and he admits that much of his motivation comes from his diabetic son. From Time:

Every day, Doug is on the front lines of the war not only against disease but also against the obstacles placed in the path of the science. And he has demonstrated that he has what it takes to advance this campaign. When President Bush cut federal funding of embryonic-stem-cell research in 2001, Doug used private donations to create more than 100 stem-cell lines and distributed them without charge to researchers across the country. He has the skill and creativity to carry out the experiments that need to be done, and the vision and compassion to know that true humanity lies in relieving human suffering, not in acquiescing to politics or ideology.

Click here to read more about Doug Melton and the other 99 movers and shakers on the Time 100.

Labels: Douglas Melton, embryonic stem cell, Harvard, stem cell research, Time 100