Bill Frist

Delivering peace through global health policy

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About Bill Frist

Former Senator William Frist is a nationally acclaimed heart and lung transplant surgeon, former U.S. Senate Majority Leader, and chairman of the Distinguished Executives Council of the healthcare firm Cressey & Company. Actively engaged in the medical and humanitarian communities, Bill was instrumental in the passage of the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act and of the historic PEPFAR legislation that provided life-saving treatment to over 13 million people and reversed the spread of HIV/AIDS worldwide. As the founder and director of the Vanderbilt Multi-Organ Transplant Center, Dr. Frist has performed over 150 heart and lung transplants, authored over 100 medical articles, and published seven books on topics such as bioterrorism, transplantation, and leadership. He is founder and chairman of global health organization Hope Through Healing Hands, and currently serves as an adjunct professor of cardiac surgery at Vanderbilt University.


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About This Talk

Former Senate Majority Leader and surgeon Bill Frist believes that having a healthy society helps to ensure a stable society. In his work as a legislator and a doctor, Bill found that medical care was a foundation on which he could build peace and trust. 

From his work healing people living amidst the violence and destruction of Sudan's civil war to his successful efforts to pass PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), Bill's decades of work in the medical, humanitarian, and legislative communities have helped demonstrate why the United States should play a lead role in improving global health. Tune in to Bill's 2017 TEDMED Talk to learn more about his ambitious efforts to use health and medicine as instruments for global peace.

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