Former senator Bill Frist addressed UT students and faculty at the UC auditorium at 4 p.m. on Friday.

Bill Frist was a senator in Tenn. from 1995 to 2007. He was the first practicing physician to enter the senate since 1928, he said. Frist also held the position of twenty-third senate majority leader. Currently he is a professor at Princeton University.

Frist spoke about the growing health crisis in Africa. His lecture was entitled Global Health: Hope through Healing, A Physician-Senator's Unfinished Journey.

We cannot treat our way out of the global AIDS epidemic. Bill Frist, former Tenn. senator Fist said that when he thinks of Africa he does not think of the pain, sickness and poverty there.

"I think of joy, of optimism. I think of smiles," Frist said.

He mainly focused on the "Big 3" as he called them. These are HIV, Malaria and Tuberculosis.

Frist talked about what was being done to cure HIV. He has worked on projects such as the "Heart of America Tour" in 2002 with Bono, and he is currently involved in the "One Vote '08 campaign."

While excited about the growing effort to solve this problem, Frist admits that there is still a long way to go.

"We cannot treat our way out of the global AIDS epidemic," he said. "Prevention is the only way to break the cycle."

Frist encourages students to get involved by taking trips to Africa and participating in study abroad programs.