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Ronnie Levin, an instructor in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, has been named by Time as among the 100 individuals who most influenced global health in 2024.
The inaugural Time 100 Health list, published May 2, recognizes the impact, innovation, and achievement of the world’s most influential individuals in health. Levin was listed in the category “Catalysts.”
Levin was chosen for her research on lead, which played a key role in an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal requiring that all the lead pipes in the U.S. be replaced within a decade. “Few did more to bring about the change than Ronnie Levin,” Time wrote.
A 2023 cost-benefit analysis by Levin and Joel Schwartz, professor of environmental epidemiology — who is both Levin’s colleague and husband — showed that cutting lead in drinking water could save the U.S. more than $8 billion a year in health benefits and at least $2 billion in infrastructure costs, far more than the EPA had previously calculated.
Levin told Time that she’s thrilled about the EPA’s proposed rule, but added, “Without good implementation, and without enforcement … not much is gonna happen.”
Learn more: Plan to eliminate lead pipes a ‘big win’ for Harvard Chan School scientists
