According to Forbes’ annual ranking, 15 of America’s 400 richest people built their fortunes in the healthcare sector. Their combined wealth exceeds $136 billion. Notably, four of the wealthiest people in the sector are physicians by profession.
The top spot in the ranking is held by physician Thomas Frist Jr. and his family, whose fortune stands at $33.6 billion. Frist co-founded HCA Healthcare with his father in the 1960s. Today, the company owns 190 hospitals and nearly 2,400 healthcare facilities. The former military surgeon ranks 32nd among the richest Americans, while he is the clear leader in the healthcare sector.
Robert Duggan ranks second with $13.4 billion (96th overall). In 2015, he sold his biopharmaceutical company, Pharmacyclics, to AbbVie in a lucrative deal. He later invested in Summit Therapeutics, a manufacturer of oncology drugs, where he currently serves as executive co-chairman.
Charlie Mills, head of medical equipment giant Medline, ranks third with $11 billion. Fourth is surgeon Patrick Soon-Shiong, with a fortune of $10.3 billion. He developed the well-known cancer drug Abraxane. Soon-Shiong also owns a 4% stake in the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team.
The list also includes other doctors and scientists who built their fortunes in the healthcare sector. They include physician Keith Dunleavy, founder of Inovalon; physician August Troendle, founder and CEO of clinical research company Medpace; and Li Ge, a Ph.D. scientist who heads biotechnology company WuXi AppTec.
Several new names from the healthcare sector also appeared in this year’s Forbes 400 ranking. Charlie and Andy Mills, as well as Wendy Abrams, Keith Dunleavy and August Troendle, made the list for the first time.
Although the combined wealth of the 15 healthcare billionaires exceeds $136 billion, technology giants continue to dominate the top of the Forbes ranking. The world’s richest person is Elon Musk, whose fortune stands at $908 billion, more than twice the wealth of second-ranked Jeff Bezos ($378 billion). For comparison, Musk’s fortune is $874.4 billion greater than that of Thomas Frist, the wealthiest person in healthcare — simply put, Musk is approximately 27 times richer than Frist.
The full list of the richest Americans in healthcare in 2026 is as follows:
- Thomas Frist Jr., M.D. (32nd out of 400) — HCA Healthcare; fortune: $33.6 billion
- Robert Duggan (96th) — Pharmacyclics; fortune: $13.4 billion
- Charlie Mills (141st) — Medline; fortune: $11 billion
- Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D. (151st) — Abraxane; fortune: $10.3 billion
- Li Ge, Ph.D. (156th) — WuXi AppTec; fortune: $10.1 billion
- Carl Cook (187th) — Cook Group; fortune: $8.8 billion
- Ronda Stryker (241st) — Stryker Corp.; fortune: $7.1 billion
- John Brown (251st) — Stryker Corp.; fortune: $6.9 billion
- Reinhold Schmieding (293rd) — Arthrex; fortune: $5.8 billion
- Andy Mills (311th) — Medline; fortune: $5.5 billion
- John Stryker (325th) — Stryker Corp.; fortune: $5.2 billion
- Wendy Abrams (367th) — Medline; fortune: $4.7 billion
- Stuart Rahr, J.D. (367th) — Kinray; fortune: $4.7 billion
- Keith Dunleavy, M.D. (375th) — Inovalon; fortune: $4.6 billion
- August Troendle, M.D. (396th) — Medpace; fortune: $4.4 billion
