Rockville, MD – Sept. 1, 2026 – The American Association on Health and Disability has been named a 2026 Fierce 50 honoree by Fierce Pharma, Fierce Biotech and Fierce Healthcare. The Fierce 50 recognizes 50 individuals and organizations driving advancements in medicine, fostering innovation and shaping the future of biopharma and healthcare.
“Now in its fourth year, the Fierce 50 continues to show that progress in this industry doesn’t come from just one place,” said Ayla Ellison, editor-in-chief of Fierce Life Sciences and Healthcare. “It’s showing up in the lab, in executive leadership, in community clinics and in advocacy work that never makes headlines. Whether it’s a biotech pushing a new therapy toward patients or a grassroots organization fighting for someone to get the care they need, these honorees remind us that impact takes a lot of different shapes. We’re honored to celebrate all of them.”
Chosen by the editors of Fierce Pharma, Fierce Biotech and Fierce Healthcare, this year’s Fierce 50 honorees reflect the breadth of talent and vision shaping the biopharma and healthcare industries today. From startups to established organizations, each has made a distinct contribution, whether by advancing scientific discovery, improving the health of communities, expanding access to care or reimagining how healthcare is delivered at a local level or on a global scale.
AAHD Executive Director, Karl Cooper, spoke to the importance of their work to support the health of disabled people across the lifespan: “We’re committed to empowering self-advocates from across the disability community with the tools to push for more responsive and accessible health systems and care, while also working to shape those in systems with the best practices and policy to bring about health equity for all. Our work reaches many different stakeholders in the health space. We’re bringing a strong ethic of disability inclusion to push for the social change necessary to ensure that all disabled people can achieve their best possible health in their homes and communities. We are grateful to be acknowledged for our work in health equity as we continue to advocate for better health and wellness for people with disabilities.”
About the American Association on Health and Disability
The American Association on Health and Disability (AAHD) is dedicated to ensuring health equity for children and adults with disabilities through policy, research, education, and dissemination at the federal, state and community level. AAHD strives to advance health promotion and wellness initiatives for people with disabilities. AAHD’s goals are to advance health equity between people with disabilities and the general population, and to support full community inclusion and accessibility. AAHD’s official journal is the Disability and Health Journal, a multidisciplinary scholarly journal that covers health promotion and wellness initiatives that aim to reduce health disparities for people with disabilities. AAHD is working to promote the inclusion of diverse, cross-disability communities in health research, while advocating for stronger disability data collection nationwide. AAHD is also advancing knowledge translation and accessible communications work to support health insurance literacy and awareness of the national changes underway with Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Services.
About Fierce Pharma
Fierce Pharma is the go-to destination for the news and trends shaping the industry. Our focus daily is on news about approved drugs and every aspect of pharma’s operations as well as the people who move pharma forward. Our coverage also feeds longer-form content, podcasts and events. In staying on top of the news, our journalists have developed a loyal audience. Critically, we explain the news—often complicated technology or business maneuvers—and put it in context that brings it home for our readers and listeners in their work lives.
About Fierce Biotech
Fierce Biotech is the dominant B2B news brand for the industry. Every day, we track the companies, people and ideas reshaping biotech: from the discovery through clinical trials, approvals and commercialization, and the venture funding, partnerships, IPOs and M&A that power it all. That reporting fuels our long-form features, podcasts and events, where deal flow, data and on-the-ground insight come together into the fullest picture of where the industry is headed.
About Fierce Healthcare
At Fierce Healthcare, we deliver the news and analysis that healthcare can’t afford to miss. Our newsroom serves the people building, running, and reshaping this industry: hospital executives and physicians, payers, policymakers, researchers and the entrepreneurs betting on what comes next. Wherever healthcare is being disrupted, financed, regulated, or reinvented, we’re covering it, with breaking news, exclusive interviews and deep reporting that connects the dots between a boardroom decision and a patient’s bedside experience.
Read the Fierce 50 special report: https://www.fiercepharma.com/collection/fierce-50-2026
Read AAHD’s Fierce 50 Profile: https://www.fiercepharma.com/fierce-50/american-association-health-and-disability