Three members of the family behind the medical supply company Medline joined the Forbes 400 — an annual ranking of the wealthiest Americans — for the first time this year.
Their addition came alongside several other notable changes, as the minimum net worth for inclusion on the list rose to $4.4 billion in 2026, up from $3.8 billion the year prior.
Forbes published its 2026 ranking of the richest Americans on Sept. 15, with net worths as of Sept. 4. The 16 healthcare entrepreneurs, heirs, inventors and leaders on the list have a combined net worth of $145.7 billion, up from $125.9 billion for the 14 included in 2025. Most of that increase came from list newcomers. The 11 people on both lists held $115.5 billion this year, up from $113.1 billion in 2025.
To compile the list, Forbes interviewed many list members, along with their employees, asset managers, attorneys, peers and rivals, and reviewed Securities and Exchange Commission filings, court records and news articles. Valuations include stakes in public and private companies, real estate, art and other assets, minus debt and excluding money in charitable foundations. Private companies were valued against comparable public companies, with a 10% liquidity discount. Learn more about the full methodology here.
Here’s how the list changed from 2025 to 2026:
1. Medline’s IPO brought in new names. Medline’s December 2025 IPO made five members of the Mills family billionaires, according to Forbes. Three of them made the Forbes 400 this year:
- No. 141: Charlie Mills, chair and former CEO of Medline — $11 billion
- No. 311: Andy Mills, director and former president of Medline — $5.5 billion
- No. 367: Wendy Abrams, daughter of Medline co-founder Jon Mills — $4.7 billion
2. Two other healthcare leaders joined the list this year. Keith Dunleavy, MD, founder of Inovalon, a cloud-based software and healthcare analytics firm, earned the No. 375 spot with a net worth of $4.6 billion. August Troendle, founder and CEO of the clinical research organization Medpace, ranked No. 396 with a net worth of $4.4 billion.
3. Two individuals’ net worths rose sharply. Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, a surgeon, researcher and businessman who invented the cancer drug Abraxane, climbed from No. 270 to No. 151 as his net worth rose 84% to $10.3 billion. Li Ge, the CEO of WuXi AppTec, moved from No. 208 to No. 156, with his net worth up 42% to $10.1 billion. The company offers research and clinical trial support to drugmakers and biotech firms.
4. Medical device fortunes fell. Heirs and leaders at medical device companies saw their net worths drop this year. Carl Cook, CEO of Cook Group, dropped from No. 103 to No. 187, and his net worth fell 25% to $8.8 billion. Three stakeholders with Stryker Corp. also lost ground: Ronda Stryker fell 17% to $7.1 billion, John Brown fell 19% to $6.9 billion and Jon Stryker fell 9% to $5.2 billion. Meanwhile, Summit Therapeutics co-CEO Robert Duggan slipped from No. 68 to No. 96, as his net worth fell to $13.4 billion from $15.4 billion.
5. Three names dropped off the list. The following individuals didn’t make the Forbes 400 this year, when the minimum net worth for inclusion rose to $4.4 billion:
- Pat Stryker, granddaughter of Stryker founder Homer Stryker — $4.1 billion in 2025
- David Dean Halbert, chairman, founder and CEO of Caris Life Sciences — $4.9 billion in 2025
- Jeff Tangney, co-founder and CEO of Doximity — $3.8 billion in 2025
