Senator Bill Frist, MD, Opens Door to Tennessee
It was at medical school in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, that I first learned from St. Louis friends about Dr. Bill Frist — a Tennessee cardiothoracic surgeon who founded Vanderbilt Transplant Center (now the largest heart transplant program in the world), became a U.S. Senator, rose to Senate Majority Leader, and played an instrumental role in helping President George W. Bush secure congressional passage of the landmark PEPFAR HIV/AIDS program.
When Russian full-scale invasion to Ukraine happened in February 2022, Senator Frist, M.D. initiated large life-saving humanitarian program. Read Forbes article: Tennesseans Answer The Call: Volunteer State Leads Rapid Response Efforts For Ukrainian Requested Medical Supplies
After learning that Senator would be speaking at the National Healthcare CXO Summit in October 2022, I purchased a ticket to attend the event. Dr. Vasyl Strilka from the Ministry of Health of Ukraine helped obtained a formal letter from the Minister Viktor Liashko to Senator Frist in support of Ukraine’s transplant reform efforts.
Dr. Frist generously responded to the request and connected me with Dr. Seth Karp, a prominent liver transplant surgeon and Chair of the Section of Surgical Sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Just a few months later, in December 2022, eight Ukrainian physicians traveled to Nashville to observe heart and lung transplant operations. During the observership, they studied transplant protocols, multidisciplinary teamwork, and established long-term professional relationships with Vanderbilt colleagues.
Read Operating in darkness: Part 1 The doctors' long road from Ukraine to Nashville and Operating in darkness: Part 2 Ukrainian doctors learn tricks of the trade at Vanderbilt by Nashville Business Journal and Ukrainian surgeons visit VUMC to observe transplant protocols by VUMC Reporter.
UPD 2023 Ukrainian doctors again visit VUMC to observe organ transplants and protocols
