Healthier people. Healthier planet. Global Board Chair @nature_org Former Senate Majority Leader Physician | Husband | Dad | Papa
Franklin, TN
Joined April 2007
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As a doctor, I would never diagnose a patient from one test alone. I follow the full body of evidence.
Earth’s warming is measured by satellites, weather stations, oceans, tree rings, and ice cores. The oceans have absorbed more than 90% of the excess heat.
Different methods, all converging on the same conclusion.
#MythDiagnosis
In today's Myth Diagnosis:
“We don’t need vaccines anymore. Those diseases are gone.”
Vaccines helped make them rare. Keeping them rare is on us. My transplant patients can’t get certain vaccines. They depend in part on those around them.
Diagnosis: We forgot why.
Rx: Check your family’s records.
Bill Frist, M.D. retweeted
Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (@bfrist) interviewed me about my new memoir, THE EDUCATION OF A SENATOR: FROM JFK TO TRUMP, and then I interviewed him at an event on Monday night at Middle Tennessee State University (@MTSU) in Murfreesboro.
It was a banner day for Frist, who was elected to the National Academy of Medicine and who was shown the site of the archives of his consequential public and private life. I begin my memoir with the story of how Dr. Frist abandoned a career as one of the country’s top heart transplant surgeons to run for the US Senate in 1994. He did that, he said, because as a surgeon “I could save one life at a time and as a senator I might be able to save a million lives”.
He did just that as a senator by working with President George H.W. Bush to create PEPFAR, which saved the lives of at least 2 million people afflicted with HIV.
In THE EDUCATION OF A SENATOR: FROM JFK TO TRUMP, I paint portraits of the presidents I worked with, tell stories about what I saw behind the scenes, and recount the lessons I learned about American politics and our country’s future.
THE EDUCATION OF A SENATOR: FROM JFK TO TRUMP is out now from @PostHillPress.
You can use this link to order: simonandschuster.com/.../Lam….
Just notified I’ve been elected to @theNAMedicine. I’m grateful, and it brings to mind so many people I’ve been lucky to work with—in the operating room, in the Senate, and in clinics around the world.
To all who shared this work with me, thank you.
Congratulations to the Class of 2026, including fellow Tennesseans Paul Harris of @VanderbiltU and Charles Roberts of @StJude. Their citations, and the Academy’s full announcement: nam.edu/news-and-insights/na…
Bill Frist, M.D. retweeted
Join us as two former senators, Lamar Alexander and Bill Frist, address Leadership and Public Service: Past, Present, and Future, beginning at 3 p.m. Watch live on True Blue TV, on Facebook, or at mtsu.edu/live!
#MTSU #trueBLUE #TrueBlueTV
ALT Senator Lamar Alexander and Senator Bill Frist. Leadership and Public Service: Past, Present, and Future. Oct. 19 3-4:30 p.m. in Tucker Theatre. Watch live on Facebook, True Blue TV, or mtsu.edu/live
You know you’re in the Cutting Horse Capital of the World when even Ronald McDonald rides a cutting horse.
Weatherford, Texas, where Tracy’s horses Tripp and Scarlett train. Here you don’t have to make it to the arena to see how much the sport means to people.
Every leadership role teaches you something. @SenAlexander has held more of them than almost anyone I know.
This Monday, we’ll talk leadership at @MTSU’s Tucker Theatre, 3 p.m. CT. Free and open to all, or watch online.
Add the event to your calendar + livestream info: tr.ee/fristlamarmtsu
A full grocery cart isn’t the same as a nourished family.
Heat, drought, rising CO₂, and shrinking crop diversity are quietly lowering the nutritional value of staple foods.
Food is medicine. A changing climate is weakening the dose. That's this week’s #MythDiagnosis 👇
Tennessee ranks among the lowest states for voter turnout. Together, we can change that.
My fellow Tennesseans, early voting begins today. Whoever you support, I hope you’ll make a plan to vote. Our state’s future deserves your voice.
Early voting runs October 14–29. Election Day is November 3. Before you go, review your sample ballot and check voting locations and hours: sos.tn.gov/govotetn
As a physician and Republican policymaker, I believe our commitment to science and vaccines matters more than ever.
I’ve seen what measles does to children. In 2011, I witnessed an outbreak in Dadaab that sickened thousands. Three-quarters were children under five.
As of Oct. 8, the @CDCgov has confirmed 4,080 U.S. measles cases this year.
I’m republishing my 2015 Forbes warning on Substack, with a new note on where we are now.
The science hasn’t changed. Our commitment to it shouldn’t either.
tr.ee/measlessubstack
Saving an old building is only half the work. The land and water around it are part of what made life there possible.
Watch my conversation with architect Michael P. Murphy at the @SavingPlaces National Preservation Summit: savingplaces.org/summit-live…
Congress today is narrowly divided. So was the Senate I led in 2003, and we still enacted the most substantive expansion of Medicare since the 1960s.
The difference? Personal relationships and less partisanship.
Thank you to @HealthEvolution for having me speak at the recent Health Evolution Connect in Nashville.
Hypertension tends to worsen over time.
In a pilot at @mwalkerhealth, 54 of 113 hypertension patients improved at least one stage.
Great care plus healthy meals, transportation, and home monitoring: that’s the power of partnership through @NashvilleHealth’s Heart of Nashville.
As a heart surgeon, I saw where uncontrolled blood pressure can lead. The path there often begins far from the hospital.
Our Frist Cressey Ventures team saw care that starts there, touring Matthew Walker with Dr. Kyu Rhee of @NACHC and CEO Katina Beard.
Myth: "Conservation is a luxury when budgets are tight."
Truth: Every $1 invested returns ~$4, up to $11 in some states.
Skipping it is like skipping preventive care: the bill comes later. 🩺
Should your city invest more in conservation?
#MythDiagnosis
Looking forward to joining my good friend @SenAlexander at the Tucker Theatre on @MTSU's campus on Oct. 19 for a conversation: "Leadership and Public Service: Past, Present, and Future."
Monday, October 19 | 3:00–4:30 p.m. CT
Tucker Theatre, Middle Tennessee State University
Free and open to the public, with a reception to follow
Lamar was there in 1994 when I left the operating room to run for the Senate, and I'm looking forward to swapping stories, and to hearing the questions students bring.
The first 50 students will receive a free copy of Lamar's book, courtesy of MTSU Trustee Stephen Smith.