Khunti and Ansari recognised among UK health’s most influential minority ethnic leaders

Professor Kamlesh Khunti and Louise Ansari have been named among the Health Service Journal’s 75 most influential Black, Asian and minority ethnic people in health, recognising their contributions to diabetes prevention, research and public health.

Two prominent figures in diabetes research and prevention have been named in the Health Service Journal’s 2026 list of the 75 most influential Black, Asian and minority ethnic people in health, in recognition of work that has helped shape care well beyond their own specialisms. Professor Kamlesh Khunti of the University of Leicester and Louise Ansari, now a non-executive director at NHS England, were both included on the annual list, which also features figures such as London Mayor Sadiq Khan and surgeon and healthcare innovator Ara Darzi.

Khunti’s inclusion reflects a career spent examining type 2 diabetes, cardiometabolic disease and the unequal burden of illness in ethnic minority communities. He is professor of primary care diabetes and vascular medicine at the University of Leicester, co-director of the Leicester Diabetes Centre and co-director of the National Institute for Health and Care Research Applied Research Collaboration East Midlands. His wider portfolio also includes leadership roles at the NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre and the British Heart Foundation Leicester Centre of Research Excellence.

His research has repeatedly focused on prevention as well as treatment. University of Leicester researchers highlighted in June that Khunti had led three review papers presented at the American Diabetes Association’s 2026 Scientific Sessions in New Orleans, covering the epidemiology, mechanisms, care models and management of cardiometabolic multiple long-term conditions. Earlier studies associated with his name, including the Let’s Prevent Diabetes programme and the PROPELS trial, helped build evidence for community-based lifestyle intervention and structured physical activity in people at elevated risk of type 2 diabetes.

Khunti’s influence also extends to health inequalities more broadly. During the Covid-19 pandemic, he was among the first academics to identify the disproportionate impact of the virus on ethnic minority groups, work that later informed national advice through the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies. He has previously been recognised in the HSJ’s 2023 list of the 50 most influential Black, Asian and minority ethnic people in health and in Britain’s 101 Most Influential Asians in the GG2 Power List in 2022.

Reacting to the honour, Khunti said it was “a tremendous honour” to be recognised alongside leaders making a difference across health and care, and said the award reflected the “dedication and hard work” of colleagues across Leicester and beyond. University of Leicester president and vice-chancellor Nishan Canagarajah praised him as someone whose work has made a tangible difference to patients in the UK and internationally. Ansari’s inclusion adds a policy and public-health dimension to the list, reflecting her previous role at Diabetes UK as director of prevention of type 2 diabetes, where she helped drive awareness of the condition and the importance of reducing risk before diagnosis.