LI’s Diana Berrent On Fortune’s World’s 50 Greatest Leaders List

PORT WASHINGTON, NY — Diana Berrent, and the COVID-19 support organization she founded, Survivor Corps, have been named as one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders of 2021 by Fortune Magazine.

The eighth annual list highlights leaders who responded to unexpected crises, and some of them were already leaders in their fields, and others were ordinary citizens that did extraordinary things, according to a news release.

Fortune’s piece credits Berrent for starting the organization mainly to mobilize plasma donations, but then “morphing into something much broader.”

“Part support group, part ready pool of research subjects, part nimble participant in pandemic response, Survivor Corps, which has partners across the health system, is now involved in activities as wide-ranging as connecting patients to critical antibody treatments, supporting clinical studies, and developing diagnostic standards for “long” COVID,” the piece reads.

Berrent founded the 166,000-plus member Survivor Corps organization to bring together the increasing number of people affected by COVID-19 back in March 2020 when she was in isolation from her husband and two children recovering from the disease herself. The mission of Berrent, who was one of the first people on Long Island to be diagnosed with the virus, was to mobilize survivors to help mitigate the pandemic.

The Yale School of Medicine recently has launched a study examining the effects of vaccinations on long-haulers, partly based on Survivor Corps’ non-scientific poll showing 40 percent of members found symptom relief after they were vaccinated, Patch has reported.

Berrent called her inclusion on “the list” a “great honor” for both herself and Survivor Corps, saying she and the organization’s members have “worked tirelessly” advocating for people who have recovered, as well as those “who are still suffering from this virus by partnering with the best of the best from the medical and research fields.”

“We have educated thousands while bringing some relief and answers to others,” she added.

However, Berrent said the work is still ongoing, and as Survivor Corps “keeps inching closer, there is still more ground to cover.”

“In reality, this recognition is not about me, it’s about our members and what they have done to increase awareness,” Berrent said. “To be named to this list helps highlight so much of what we have accomplished and gives us fuel to keep going.”

Fortune’s 2021 World’s 50 Greatest Leaders list can be found on the magazine’s website.