NCHATS Co-Director Brian Ahmedani Named to TIME List of Influential Leaders in Health

TIME named Brian Ahmedani to the 2026 TIME100 Health List of the World’s Most Influential Leaders in Health. Ahmedani is recognized in the Innovators category for his work advancing Henry Ford Health’s Zero Suicide model, proven to reduce suicide rates by 25%. TIME wrote:

Nearly three decades ago, Brian Ahmedani was part of the Henry Ford Health team that developed the Zero Suicide model for health care providers: a novel framework built on the idea that suicide is preventable when health systems take responsibility for identifying risk and providing consistent, evidence-based care. That means that, for example, all patients are routinely screened for suicide risk, and clinicians and staff are trained to recognize and have direct conversations about it. In 2025, a major study published in JAMA Network Open showed that the model—which has been adopted throughout the U.S. and in more than 30 countries—decreased suicide attempts from as much as 11.3 to 0.3 per 100,000 people in participating health centers. “We pursue zero because we don’t accept that we shouldn’t try to prevent every single suicide,” Ahmedani says. “We’re not going to stop until we do.”

In 2025, Ahmedani published new research demonstrating the model’s effectiveness. In the news release about that research, Ahmedani said, “‘Zero Suicide’ may seem like an impossible goal, but we believe we should strive every day to try to prevent suicide among our patients. This is the best evidence yet that we have the tools to recognize those in distress, intervene, and help them change course.”

The 2026 TIME100 Health spotlights 100 influential leaders shaping global health, noting that the people selected “are advancing care, shaping policy, and driving innovations that transform lives.” The full list is available online and it will appear in the February 23 print issue of the magazine.