62 Facts About Bill Frist

William Harrison Frist was born on February 22,1952 and is an American physician, businessman, conservationist and policymaker who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1995 to 2007.

Bill Frist trained as a cardiothoracic transplant surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital and Stanford University School of Medicine, and later founded the Vanderbilt Transplant Center.

Bill Frist's father was a doctor and co-founded the health care business organization which became Hospital Corporation of America.

Bill Frist graduated in 1970 from Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, and then from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 1974.

Bill Frist was a member of University Cottage Club while he was a student at Princeton.

Bill Frist proceeded to Harvard Medical School, where he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine with honors in 1978.

Bill Frist returned to Massachusetts General in 1984 as chief resident and fellow in cardiothoracic surgery.

From 1985 until 1986, Bill Frist was a senior fellow and chief resident in cardiac transplant service and cardiothoracic surgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Bill Frist served as a staff surgeon at the Nashville Veterans Administration Hospital.

In 1992, Bill Frist organized a statewide grassroots campaign to return the organ donation card to the Tennessee driver's license and received the Distinguished Service Award from the Tennessee Medical Association for his efforts.

In 1998, Bill Frist administered emergency aid to victims and the shooter in the 1998 Capital Shooting.

Bill Frist regularly participated in global medical mission and international relief trips, often with non-profit Samaritan's Purse, providing medical aid in sub-Saharan Africa and taking part in emergency response to hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunami and famine.

In 1990, Bill Frist met with former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker about the possibilities of public office.

Baker advised him to pursue the Senate and suggested in 1992 that Bill Frist begin preparations to run in 1994.

Bill Frist served on the Tennessee Governor's Medicaid Task Force from 1992 to 1993, joined the National Steering Committee of the Republican National Committee's Health Care Coalition and was deputy director of the Tennessee Bush-Quayle 1992 campaign.

Bill Frist received the largest vote total ever by a statewide candidate.

Bill Frist paid a civil fine of $11,000 in a settlement with the FEC.

Bill Frist supported the Iraq war while in the Senate; he supported the initial invasion as well as the war during the Iraqi Insurgency.

Bill Frist first entered the national spotlight when two Capitol police officers were shot inside the United States Capitol by Russell Eugene Weston Jr.

Bill Frist served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Disability Policy, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on African Affairs, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Public Health and Safety, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space, and Chairman of the Budget Committee Task Force on Education.

On December 23,2002, Bill Frist was elected Senate majority leader.

Bill Frist became the third-youngest Senate Majority Leader in US history, and had served fewer total years in Congress than any person previously chosen to lead that body.

Bill Frist was able to push many initiatives through to fruition, including the Bush administration's third major tax cut and legislation that established Medicare Part D and the modern-day Medicare Advantage program.

Bill Frist was instrumental in developing and then passing the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the historic and unprecedented funding commitment to fight AIDS that has saved the lives of 25 million people globally.

When President Bush made the PEPFAR program a priority of his 2003 agenda, Bill Frist built a bipartisan coalition to secure the legislation's rapid passage.

Bill Frist continued to support global health investments during his time as Majority Leader, and helped shepherd the enactment of the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005, which made the provision of safe water, sanitation and hygiene an objective of US foreign assistance, recognizing a lack of clean water and sanitation as the leading cause of preventable death in the developing world.

Bill Frist supported the President in 2001, but as time progressed, the stem cell lines became less stable and by 2005 only 22 viable lines remained.

In 2001, Bill Frist had laid out 10 principles that guided his views on stem cells, which he restated on the Senate floor in 2006.

Bill Frist's policy was generally consistent with the principles I set forth a month before his announcement back in 2001.

Just before Congress adjourned for the 2006 elections, in what politicos call a "midnight drop", Bill Frist inserted the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act clauses into the larger, unrelated Security and Accountability for Every Port Act.

Bill Frist spoke in favor of the recently passed Medicare prescription drug benefit and the passage of legislation providing for Health Savings Accounts.

Bill Frist pledged to leave the Senate after two terms in 2006 and did not run for reelection.

Bill Frist campaigned heavily for Republican candidate Bob Corker, who won by a small margin over Congressman Harold Ford Jr.

Bill Frist was mentioned as a potential 2008 Republican presidential candidate and as a potential 2010 Republican candidate for Governor of Tennessee.

Bill Frist did not run for president in 2008 or for governor in 2010.

In 2009, Bill Frist stated that he would have broken with his party by voting in favor of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which was unanimously opposed by Republicans.

In January 2011, after the Republicans regained a majority in the House, Bill Frist called on them not to attempt to repeal the health care law.

In 2013, Bill Frist partnered with Brad Smith to start Aspire Health, which grew to be the largest non-hospice community-based palliative care company in the US before it was acquired by Anthem in 2018.

The care model was inspired in part by the team-based approach Bill Frist had used in caring for patients awaiting transplants.

In 2015, Bill Frist co-founded Bill Frist Cressey Ventures, a Nashville-based venture capital firm focused on partnering with early-stage healthcare companies.

Bill Frist serves as board chair of Monogram Health, a value-based specialty provider of in-home evidence-based care and benefit management services for patients living with polychronic conditions, including chronic kidney and end-stage renal disease.

In 2009, Bill Frist launched a statewide education reform nonprofit organization targeting K-12 education called SCORE.

In 2013, Bill Frist voiced support for higher academic standards in grades K-12, reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and improving efforts to identify, foster, and reward effective teaching.

In 2010, Bill Frist served on the six-person board of the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, which had raised $66 million for immediate earthquake relief and long-term recovery efforts in the Caribbean country.

Bill Frist founded and chairs Hope Through Healing Hands, a global health non-profit, as well as community health collaborative NashvilleHealth.

Bill Frist has served on numerous public, private, and non-profit boards.

Bill Frist currently serves as Chairman of the Global Board of The Nature Conservancy, a three-year term that began in October 2022, and has been a member of the board since June 2015, previously as Vice-Chair.

Bill Frist has served on the non-profit boards of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and previously spent 10 years on the board of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Bill Frist has been a member of the Harvard Medical School Department of Global Health and Social Medicine Advisory Council since 2010, and previously chaired the Harvard Medical School's Board of Fellows and served on Princeton University's Board of Trustees for fifteen years.

Bill Frist has held numerous roles with the Smithsonian Institution, including serving on its Board of Regents.

Bill Frist later served on the Advisory Board of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.

From 2007- 2008 Frist served as the Frederick H Schultz Class of 1951 Visiting Professor of International Economic Policy at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, teaching with his longtime mentor, renowned healthcare economist Uwe Reinhardt.

Bill Frist became a co-chair of One Vote '08, an initiative of the ONE campaign, with former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.

Since 2011, Bill Frist has served as a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center, and is co-chair of the organization's Health Project with former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.

Bill Frist is a trained pilot, a skill he used to annually travel to all 95 Tennessee counties while campaigning and in office.

In March 2002, Bill Frist published, When Every Moment Counts: What You Need to Know About Bioterrorism from the Senate's Only Doctor, sharing practical guidance following the 2001 anthrax attacks on how to stay safe in the event of a bioterrorism attack.

In October 2009, Bill Frist published A Heart to Serve: The Passion to Bring Health, Hope, and Healing.

Bill Frist coedited with Dr Manish Sethi An Introduction to Health Policy in 2013.

Bill and Karyn Frist were the sole trustees in charge of a family foundation bearing the senator's name which had more than $2 million in assets in 2004.

Bill Frist was questioned in 2005 by the Securities and Exchange Commission about stock sales allegedly based on inside information.

Bill Frist was named one of the 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare in 2002,2003 and 2004.

Between 1997 and 2006, Bill Frist received honorary degrees from five historically black colleges and universities, including Fisk University, Howard University, LeMoyne-Owen College, Meharry Medical College, and the Morehouse School of Medicine.