Last modified: Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Former Senate Majority Leader Frist to speak at IU on March 25
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 19, 2008
Editors: A media availabillity with Sen. Frist has been scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at the IU Auditorium on March 25. Media also are welcome to cover his presentation that evening.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Transplant surgeon and former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist will speak at the Indiana University Auditorium on March 25, giving a lecture, "Medicine as a Currency for Peace."
Bill Frist
The lecture, hosted by the Indiana Memorial Union Board, will begin at 7 p.m. and will be free and open to the public. No tickets are necessary for this event.
Through his annual medical missions to Africa, Sen. Frist has seen firsthand how the power of medicine can build trust between people of different cultures, promote growth and overcome the ravages of war. He believes the development of this concept in U.S. foreign policy will help to undermine support for ideological terrorist groups and improve America's standing in the international community.
Frist is a graduate of Princeton University and the Harvard Medical School. He worked as a heart and lung transplant surgeon and directed the heart and lung transplantation program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He was first elected as a Republican to the U.S. Senate in 1994 and was re-elected in 2000. He did not run for a third term. He chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee from 2001 to 2003 and was majority leader from 2003 to 2007.
From his 20-year background in medicine and his 12 years in Congress, Frist brings a unique perspective to current health policy issues that have played an heightened role in the 2008 elections, said Union Board Lectures Assistant Director Stephanie Welch.
"By bringing Bill Frist, Union Board and the Lectures Committee further demonstrates its commitment to excellence in programming and diversity in message," Welch said. "Sen. Frist's experience with his annual medical missions to Africa will certainly provide a new perspective on how medicine builds trust within cultures."
The Indiana Memorial Union Board has brought thousands of programs to the IU community since its inception in 1909. It is made up of 16 student and four non-student directors responsible for campus programming that entertains and educates the IU community. For more information about Union Board, call 812-855-4682 or e-mail ubpr@indiana.edu.
