Former GOP leader out of Senate but still guiding on health issues: AMNews interviews William H. Frist, MD

Surgeon William H. Frist, MD, is working to reduce global poverty and improve health care.

By Doug Trapp, AMNews staff. Oct. 22/29, 2007.

Washington -- Former Senate Majority Leader William H. Frist, MD, may have retired from Congress after 12 years, but that doesn't mean his pace has slowed. He's still forging ahead on some of the issues he's worked on for years: health care, poverty and animal welfare.

The general surgeon teaches courses on health policy as a visiting professor at Princeton University, his alma mater. He is co-chair of an effort to make global health and extreme poverty high-profile issues in the 2008 presidential election.

Dr. Frist is the chair of Survive to 5, a campaign by the charity Save the Children to reduce early childhood mortality by two-thirds through basic preventive health care. And he's the chair of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project, which provides care for gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

This marathon of work will have to replace the regular races he used to run as a Tennessee senator. Although he lost his right kneecap in a motorcycle accident as a young man, he was able to run seven marathons in 10 years. Several months ago, however, his right knee became painful, so he switched to walking.

"My age has caught up with me," said Dr. Frist, 55, the youngest Senate majority leader ever. He spoke to American Medical News recently about health system reform and the lessons of politics.

AMNews: What did you learn from being a senator?

Dr. Frist: I learned that politics is not easy. It is challenging. But at the same time it's a noble profession that has to be a calling, but one that has huge power to influence good for mankind generally.