TIME released their annual Top 100 Most Influential List was recently and this year's list featured many women in the front lines of the fight against COVID-19. These women are doctors, scientists nurses, and advocates in their respective fields.

The last six months have been a challenge for all ten of them but they've risen above the challenge. It's an honor to included in the TIME 100 Most Influential list and it's great this one are being recognized for being leaders.

10  Lauren Gardner

John Hopkins University (JHU) professor of engineering  Lauren Gardner created the JHU COVID-19 dashboard. As coronavirus began globally spreading, Gardner saw a need to track all of the data in one place in the name of public health and transparency. She took action and developed this dashboard in just one day with graduate student Enshen Dong.

The site is used by most major news organizations while reporting COVID-19 cases and spread. Gardner's tracking has been influential for COVID-19 news and updates.

9 Rebecca Gromperts

Rebecca Gomperts is a Dutch physician and an abortion rights activist. She believes that safe abortion is a human right and has dedicated her career to making sure it stays that way across the glove. This was already a huge challenged before 2020 but the coronavirus pandemic adds more challenges when it comes to access to care.

Gomperts has been spending this pandemic advocating for remote care and safe, early abortion access through pills provided by her organization, Aid Access. Now more than ever, abortions have been difficult to obtain, and Aid Access has seen a rise in the request for service. Gomperts will continue to fight for safe abortion access, especially for those in remote, rural areas.

8 Shi Zhengli

In January, as we blissfully welcomed the New Year, Dr. Shi Zhengli was already working to identify and contain a new virus that would be named COVID-19. As she and her team did their research, she knew immediately it came from bats having worked through the SARS epidemic in Asia in 2003.

Dr. Zhengli has spent 15 years studying bats and the viruses they can carry. In 2015, she predicted a new bat coronavirus strand would eventually appear. She was right.

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7 Dr. Camilla Rothe

Dr. Camilla Rothe led the team that first discovered that coronavirus can still be spread by asymptomatic people. An infectious-disease specialist, Dr. Rothe's discovery was done by testing, testing, and more testing. She sounded the alarm back in January, but many didn't believe it was possible.

Sure enough, months later, another medical teams confirmed Dr. Rothe's original finding. It's now accepted that 30%-40% of all cases of COVID are spread by asymptomatic carriers. There's no telling how many lives would have been saved or outbreaks prevented if Dr. Rothe had been listed to sooner.

6 Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel has been the Chancellor of Germany since 2005. Before politics, she was an accomplished scientist which has shaped the way she leads. According to Ursula Von Der Leyen, who wrote her Time 100 dedication, Merkel leads in a careful manner where she thinks of what to do and does so strategically.

With her science background and methodical approach, Germany has whethered the coronavirus pandemic quite well compared to other nations. However, they aren't totally in the clear.

5 Mary Kay Henry

As the leader of the Service Employees Internation Union (SEIU), Mary Kay Henry knew she would have a challenge on her hands when coronavirus began mass shutdowns. Essential workers were forced to be in front and center of this unknown virus. Henry knew the first thing she had to do was aks her union members their concerns.

From there she secured PPE and fought for health protections for essential workers that included hazard pay, sick leave, and health care. Henry's next advocacy project is to get essential workers and low-income to the voting polls.

4 Jung Eun-kyeong

As commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Dr. Jung Eun-kyeong, took the approach of leading her country through the pandemic with transparency. She relied heavily on testing and contract tracing. She has held press conferences every day updating the public on the number of cases, testing, and necessary precautions.

As a result, South Korean citizens have largely obeyed social distancing and mask orders. This has resulted in a good control of cases and a low death toll.

3 Bonnie Castillo

Bonnie Castillo is a registered nurse (RN) and the executive director of National Nurses United and the California Nurses Association. Since the start of coronavirus, Castillo has made it known that nurses desperately needed PPE. She was a voice for nurses when they needed to be heard.

Castillo is extremely committed to unions and supports all that they provide. It's times like pandemics where unions are needed to help provide for America's most vulnerable and valuable workers.

2 Claire Babineaux-Fontenot

It's no secret that COVID-19 has made a huge financial impact on so many families. Claire Babineaux-Fontenot leads Feeding America, a national non-profit that provided food to food banks across the U.S.

She made the Time 100 Most Influential List because of her huge role in providing for meals at the most needed time.

1 Amy O'Sullivan

ER nurse Amy O'Sullivan earned her place on Time 100's 2020 List by being the nurse to treat the first COVID-19 patient in New York City. That patient would also be the first casualty. Days later O'Sullivan began experiencing symptoms of coronavirus herself.

The 18-year veteran had to be intubated for four days before going home. She returned to work less than two weeks later. Her resiliency and dedication to her patients is the epitome of what this pandemic has been.

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Source: Time