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34 POPULATION HEALTH 34 CEO / STRATEGY The 8 greatest healthcare leaders in 2021, per Fortune By Hannah Mitchell A mid the COVID-19 pandemic, some healthcare leaders have ris- en to the top as the greatest in the world, according to a May 13 report published by Fortune. Fortune's eight greatest healthcare leaders in 2021: 1. mRNA-vaccine pioneers: BioNTech's co-founders, Ugur Sahin, MD, PhD, and Ozlem Tureci, MD; Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, PhD; and Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel all contributed to the technology behind Pfizer's and Moderna's COVID-19 shots becoming widely available to the public. 2. Seth Berkley, MD. CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance: Gavi is a collaborative effort of healthcare organizations that has saved millions of children from dying of preventable diseases. 3. Aparna Hegde, MD. Founder and Chair of Armman: Dr. Hegde witnessed many hor- rors delivering babies at a government hospi- tal in Mumbai. at's what led her in 2008 to found Armman, an organization focused on bettering outcomes through the use of low- cost technology. 4. Kate Bingham. Head of the U.K.'s Vac- cine Taskforce: Ms. Bingham, a venture capitalist focused on biotech and healthcare startups, headed the U.K.'s Vaccine Taskforce, the group charged with ensuring Britain ob- tained enough COVID-19 vaccines. 5. Ala Stanford, MD. Founder of Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium: Dr. Stan- ford is a pediatric surgeon in the Philadelphia suburbs who spent the early days of the pan- demic trying to provide COVID-19 tests to the area's communities of color. She founded a nonprofit to treat the city's most vulnerable and underserved populations, and to im- prove vaccine equity that has eluded the U.S. 6. Diana Berrent. Founder of Survivor Corps: Survivor Corps began with the goal of mobilizing plasma donations. It now has partners across the healthcare industry and is involved in helping patients access antibody treatments, supporting clinical studies and developing diagnostic standards for "long" COVID-19. 7. Ching-Hon Pui, MD. Chair of Oncolo- gy at St. Jude Children's Research Hospi- tal (Memphis, Tenn.): Dr. Pui has spent his entire career at St. Jude, perfecting the treat- ment that now cures more than 90 percent of children diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Just as importantly, he has shared that life-saving knowledge, publishing nine books and more than 1,000 medical papers, book chapters and monographs. 8. Epidemiologists of social media: Jessica Malaty Rivera, an infectious disease epidemi- ologist and the science communication lead for e Atlantic's COVID Tracking Project, regularly conducts Q&As via Instagram. Ellie Murray, ScD, is known for animating illustra- tions in her educational videos. n Chicago safety-net hospital's contracts face scrutiny By Kelly Gooch L oretto Hospital in Chicago paid millions of dollars to private companies with ties to a business partner and friend of Anosh Ahmed, MD, the hospital's former COO and CFO, who resigned after reports of improper COVID-19 vaccinations from the 122-bed safety-net facil- ity, according to an investigation by Block Club Chicago and watchdog group Better Government Association. Seven things to know: 1. After examining the hospital's tax statements between July 2018 and June 2019, the investigation found that Lo- retto paid nearly $4 million in one year to three companies tied to Sameer Suhail. Mr. Suhail is a close friend and busi- ness partner of Dr. Ahmed. 2. Mr. Suhail's companies — including One Health Billing, based in Mr. Suhail's condo at Trump Tower in Chicago — were created in 2018 after Dr. Ahmed took the executive role at Loretto. The companies are listed as independent contractors on tax statements. 3. The hospital's board on March 24 accepted the resig- nation of Dr. Ahmed after reports of improper COVID-19 vaccinations. 4. Still, Mr. Suhail's spokesperson told Block Club Chicago and the Better Government Association that Loretto con- tinues to work with Mr. Suhail's companies. 5. Loretto Hospital spokesperson Becky Carroll told Beck- er's Loretto is cash-strapped so "not only do they have to provide services and make sure that they are high-quality, but they have an obligation to do so at the best price pos- sible given that there reimbursement rates for services are low so every dollar counts." She said two of the contracts were competitively bid, and the other company provided a specialty service in a spe- cialty area of psychiatry services. 6. Ms. Carroll said: "By contracting with this company Lo- retto was able to expand psychiatric beds from 20 to 60 and services from five days a week through 5 p.m. to seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Psychiatric services are in high demand and therefore hard to staff, especially at safety-net hospitals, and by adding these beds Loretto was able to address a significant healthcare inequity facing the com- munity. It's something that should be celebrated." 7. Chicago paused Loretto's COVID-19 vaccination pro- gram in March amid the controversy. Loretto resumed the program after the city opened a vaccination clinic April 21 in partnership with the hospital. n