Nabarun Dasgupta honored with TIME100 Health and Dogwood awards
The awards recognize the innovation fellow and senior scientist’s public health influence and commitment to helping North Carolina communities.
Nabarun Dasgupta, an innovation fellow at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and senior scientist at the UNC Injury Prevention Research Center, has been named a recipient of two distinguished honors this week: the TIME100 Health List of the World’s Most Influential Leaders in Health and the N.C. Attorney General’s Dogwood Award. The dual recognition celebrates Dasgupta’s national public health influence as well as his commitment to communities and advocates in North Carolina and beyond.
The 2026 TIME100 Health list spotlights the 100 most influential leaders in health this year. As the global order has shifted, these titans, innovators, leaders, pioneers and catalysts have pushed new ideas ahead — from gene therapies to regulatory agencies — to build healthier populations around the world. Dasgupta, also the leader of the UNC Street Drug Analysis Lab, was selected for his leadership in combatting the street drug crisis through data analysis, street drug testing and providing frontline solutions. His work helps communities and providers make informed decisions by providing public access to data with insights from a team of experts.
The Dogwood Award is given to honor North Carolinians who are dedicated to keeping people safe, healthy and happy in their communities. Dasgupta received the 2026 award at a ceremony on Feb. 13.
“The progress we make in health comes from listening to communities, following the evidence and working together across disciplines,” Dasgupta said. “I share this honor with our hundreds of community partners who make this work possible… I am in awe and deeply grateful for their trust and knowledge sharing.”
Read his reflection on working with community.
“I especially want to thank the dozen members of our team at the UNC Injury Prevention Research Center who do the tireless work every day of making kits, shipping boxes, analyzing samples, entering and analyzing data, managing finances, and conducting field studies,” he said. “While these awards may seem like individual accomplishments, they are in fact collective efforts of our wonderful team.”
Dasgupta recommends those who are interested in becoming more informed about the data trends behind overdose deaths or involved in supporting their communities to sign up for updates at www.opioiddata.org.
Together, the TIME100 Health and Dogwood Awards underscore the breadth of Dasgupta’s impact — from shaping national conversations on health to delivering tangible, community-level benefits. He will continue advancing collaborative, evidence-based initiatives that expand access to effective, compassionate care.
Dasgupta was also awarded the MacArthur Fellowship, known as the “genius grant,” in October.
