King’s surgeon named in top 100 most influential people in health

13 May 2025 - The accolade was in honour of his work in obesity

Professor Francesco Rubino, Honorary Consultant in Bariatric Surgery at King’s College Hospital, has been recognised by TIME magazine in its list of the top 100 most influential people in health this year.

Professor Rubino was celebrated for his pivotal role in ‘redefining obesity’.

Last year, he led a group of more than 50 international experts, convened by the Lancet medical journal, in an effort to define obesity so doctors could better recognise, diagnose and treat it as a disease.

The committee published the guidelines in January to help doctors distinguish between preclinical obesity – in which people gain weight but may not have any negative health outcomes – and clinical obesity, in which people have symptoms such as diabetes or sleep apnea.

Obesity affects more than 1 billion people worldwide, and defining the condition will have consequences for treatment.

To date, 79 major health organisations have endorsed the revised guidelines, including the American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association and the World Obesity Federation.

Commenting on the honour, Professor Rubino said, “This is not just a personal accomplishment but a recognition of the contribution made by 56 colleagues who participated in a global Commission that redefined the diagnosis of obesity, and of everyone at King’s who supported this initiative.”

Professor Rubino is also Chair of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery at King’s College London.