How We Chose the TIME100 Most Influential People in Health of 2024

In 2018, we worked with Bill Gates on a special issue of TIME dedicated to the power of optimism. Gates’ view, shared by many of the issue’s contributors, was that people are wired to focus on when things go wrong and when they don’t work. Sometimes this attention distracts us from the moments when progress is being made. Journalists fall prey to this phenomenon as much as anyone else.

As we put together this issue, I was reminded of the conversations with Gates that led to that project.