the healers

IN MANY WAYS, THE HEALTH GAP IS ONLY WIDENING AS MEDICINE ADVANCES. NEW DRUGS, TREATMENTS, AND FACILITIES ARE OFTEN AVAILABLE ONLY FOR THE FEW WITH MONEY AND ACCESS, NOT THE MANY IN NEED. THE INDIVIDUALS IN THIS CATEGORY WANT TO CLOSE THE CHASM. A WHITE-HELMETED ARMY OF VOLUNTEERS PROTECT CIVILIANS IN SYRIA. WESTERN DOCTORS CONNECT INSTANTLY WITH PEERS AND UNDERSERVED PATIENTS IN DISTANT NATIONS. A YOUNG RESEARCHER DEMONSTRATING A GROUNDBREAKING METHOD OF DEFEATING ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE MAY BE LESS SEXY THAN GRINDR PROVIDING HEALTH INFORMATION TO AT-RISK QUEER POPULATIONS FROM LEBANON TO CALIFORNIA—BOTH, THOUGH, ARE POWERFUL EXPRESSIONS OF LOVE.

Raed Al Saleh

LEADER, SYRIAN CIVIL DEFENSE

SYRIA

For risking life and limb for his countrymen.

A constellation of actors—the government, opposition fighters, jihadi forces—is laying waste to Syria. Which actor a person supports can be a matter of life and death. Raed Al Saleh, though, refuses to choose sides. To him, all lives matter. Saleh heads the Syrian Civil Defense, a humanitarian, politically neutral volunteer force that warns civilians before airstrikes, transports victims of bombings to medical facilities, and conducts search-and-rescue operations. Known as the White Helmets for the headgear they wear, Saleh’s group comprises almost 3,000 volunteers across opposition-held territory. It estimates that it has saved tens of thousands of people—mostly civilians, but some rebels and government soldiers, too. This year, Saleh’s organization was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

NOTABLE FACT In April, he was denied