TIME names Compassion & Choices President & CEO Kevin Díaz one of the world’s most influential leaders in health

Over the past year, Compassion & Choices has seen some of our biggest victories to date, including three new states authorizing medical aid in dying. 

Now, as the organization eyes a bold agenda for 2026, a new recognition for Compassion & Choices President & CEO Kevin Díaz highlights the growing strength of the movement under his leadership. 

TIME has named Díaz to the 2026 TIME100 Health List of the World’s Most Influential Leaders in Health, which identifies 100 titans, innovators, leaders, pioneers, and catalysts who have pushed new ideas ahead to build healthier populations around the world. 

“We’re working to redefine what the gold standard of end-of-life care looks like in the U.S.,” Díaz told TIME. “We advocate for patient-directed care, where clinicians bring expertise, and loved ones and communities provide the support, but patients are the ones who set the goals.”

Compassion at the helm, people at the heart

Díaz has worked for Compassion & Choices since 2014 and previously served as Chief Legal Advocacy Officer & General Counsel.

In his prior role,  Díaz helped spearhead efforts to authorize medical-aid-in-dying in multiple states, defend patients’ rights in landmark court cases, and ensure that end-of-life care honors individual values and autonomy. 

Under Díaz’s leadership in just the past year, Compassion & Choices has shepherded medical aid-in-dying bills into law in Delaware, Illinois, and New York. We have won legal victories for end-of-life care options; strengthened partnerships with healthcare providers, policymakers, and civil rights allies; and deepened our commitment to equity in care, ensuring no community is left behind. 

As we look ahead to 2026, we are building on the past year’s successes. Polling and our recent victories underscore the strength of the movement and the public’s belief in its future.

That movement is powered by people like you. No one knows this better than Díaz. 

“Kevin’s leadership is characterized by consensus-building, collaboration, and a steady focus on mission,” said Elaine Charney, Compassion & Choices Board Chair. “His unwavering dedication to compassion, autonomy, and justice have won the trust of everyone from lawmakers and national coalitions to grassroots advocates.”

It’s also helped push death and dying from the margins to the mainstreams of American public discourse. The TIME100 Health List is one signal of this sea change — and there’s so much more to come. 

To learn more about how you can help Compassion & Choices make patient-directed care at end of life the national standard, click here.