Recognizing that his hometown—despite its reputation as a health services capital—ranked far behind peer cities in community health, physician and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D. established a robust, collaborative health movement: NashvilleHealth.
Chronic diseases are among the most prevalent and costly health conditions. They are also often the most preventable.
Timely health data is critical to understand community well being, better allocate resources, implement strategies for health improvement and measure outcomes.
A healthy, equitable Nashville is resilient and ready to respond to health challenges.
Founder & Chairman
Senator William Frist, M.D. is a nationally-acclaimed heart and lung transplant surgeon, former U.S. Senate Majority Leader, and chairman of the Executive Board of the health service private equity firm Cressey & Company. He is actively engaged in the business as well as the medical, humanitarian, and philanthropic communities.
Senator Frist graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Frist completed surgical training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Stanford. As the founder and director of the Vanderbilt Multi-Organ Transplant Center, he performed over 150 heart and lung transplants, authored over 100 peer-reviewed medical articles, and published seven books on topics such as bioterrorism, transplantation, and leadership. He is board certified in both general and heart surgery.
Dr. Frist annually has led medical mission trips to Africa and Haiti, and emergency response teams to disasters around the globe, including to Sri Lanka after the Indian Ocean Tsunami, Bangladesh, Sudan, New Orleans after Katrina, Haiti after the earthquake, and the horn of Africa. He is chairman of both Hope Through Healing Hands, which focuses on maternal and child health and global poverty, and SCORE, a statewide collaborative education reform organization that has helped propel Tennessee to prominence as a K12 education reform state. Most recently he launched NashvilleHealth, a community wide initiative that creates a culture of health and wellbeing by serving as a convener to open dialogue, align resources and build smart strategic partnerships to forge a dynamic plan to improve the health of all Nashvillians.
His current board service includes the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, Kaiser Family Foundation, Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, Bipartisan Policy Center, and Nashville Health Care Council. He is a member of the advisory committees for global health at Duke, Harvard, and the Massachusetts General Hospital. His previous board service includes Princeton University and the Smithsonian Institution.
In the private sector, he serves on three public company boards, Select Medical, Teladoc and AECOM, (the largest engineering/architectural company in the world). In addition he is a board member of Unitek (nursing and information technology), Aegis (lab), Aspire (palliative care), MDSave (health consumerism), Cognosante (information technology in health) and Accolade (patient navigation). Past board service includes Third National SunTrust Bank in Tennessee.
Currently Dr. Frist serves as an adjunct professor of Cardiac Surgery at Vanderbilt University and clinical professor of Surgery at Meharry Medical College. As a leading authority on healthcare, Senator Frist speaks nationally on health reform, government policy, global health, education reform, and volunteerism.
Dr. Frist is married and has three sons and lives in Franklin, Tennessee.
President & CEO
Mark is a lifelong Tennessean, having spent most of his life in Memphis. Mark became a healthcare
leader at Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, a not-for-profit system that is one of the state’s largest
outside of Nashville.
Mark has intentionally devoted his career to the underserved and those most impacted by lack of access to care and resources. He is motivated to help them mount a winnable fight against chronic illness.
While at Methodist, he purposely worked at urban hospitals that allowed him to focus on those most
impacted by social determinants of health, notably those with Sickle Cell Disease among other chronic
conditions. Working on behalf of the underserved afforded Mark the opportunities to fund-raise,
business plan, and engage public and private sector businesses to launch innovative service lines and
solutions.
Mark then joined Anthem via its subsidiary CareMore. As Director of Health Services, he ran operational point for a multi-site value-based attributed panel of over 15,000 Medicaid patients, focusing on assertive preventive care for chronic and behavioral health. From there, he was recruited by DaVita Kidney Care as Regional Operations Director to oversee care for what he perceived to be “hidden” endstage renal patients in Memphis and eastern Arkansas.
While most healthcare administrators have graduate degrees in business or health administration, Mark chose to acquire a Master of Public Health so he could better understand and engage the chronic medical and social dynamics that lead to acute presentations in hospitals or clinics. It’s that passion that led him to NashvilleHealth, an organization totally focused on improving population health and promoting wellness for all.
Mark is married to his soulmate, Shaherah Yancy, also a healthcare leader directing research for
orthopedic medical devices. They have a daughter, Akiyana, and a son, Christopher. Rounding out the
family is a Boston Terrier, Zyg.
Our NashvilleHealth partners are providing the leadership, collaboration, and investment critical to setting our city on a path toward a healthier future.
Partner, Cressey & Co.
Founder and Chairman
President
Cigna Tennessee and Mid-South
President & CEO
Tivity Health
President & CEO
The Housing Fund
Chairman & CEO
LifePoint Health®
Executive Vice President for Public Health
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Chairman and CEO
Warner Music Nashville
President and CEO
Meharry Medical College
Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Medicine; Orthopaedic Trauma Surgeon
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
President & CEO
Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital
CEO
rjMills Enterprises
President and Founder
Vector Management
President & CEO
Tennessee Hospital Association
CEO
The Center for Nonprofit Management
President & CEO
Amerigroup Tennessee
Regional Growth Officer
United Healthcare
Chief Medical Officer for Employee Health Plans
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
President and CEO
Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce
Chief Medical Officer, TriStar Division
HCA Healthcare
CEO
Nashville General Hospital
President
HW Healthcare Solutions
Senior Vice President and CMO
BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee
Chief Advocacy Officer
Saint Thomas Health
Senior Associate Dean for Public Health Practice
Meharry Medical College
Chair, College of Health Policy
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Executive Director, Healthcare
Waller
Founding Partner, Chief Innovation Officer
Jarrard Phillips Cate & Hancock
VP,
Coalition for Better Health
Tennessee State Director
The Nature Conservancy, Tennessee
Community Volunteer
President & CEO
YMCA of Middle Tennessee
Executive Director
Nashville Civic Design Center
Deputy Chief of Police
Metro Nashville Police Department
President
Nashville Health Care Council
Vice Provost of Academic Affairs
Belmont University
Director, Quality & Performance Improvement
Prospero
Interim QM Director and EPSDT Manager
Amerigroup
Executive Director
Nashville Academy of Medicine
Director, Office of Primary Prevention
Tennessee Department Of Health
Executive Director
RWJF Center for Health Policy at Meharry Medical College
Vice President, Government and Industry Relations
Tivity Health
CMO
Tristar Centennial Medical Center
President & CEO
Mental Health America of Middle Tennessee
CEO
Nashville General Hospital
Vice President for Health Equity, Associate Dean for Health Equity
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Chief Medical Officer
Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center
Featured partner
Be Well at NPL supports personal wellness by providing free fitness, nutrition and other health programs at the public library, as well as connecting individuals to trusted health resources found online, in our collection, and in the community. Be Well at NPL addresses local health inequities by prioritizing resources and activities in branch neighborhoods that have less access to healthy living opportunities. In the last year, NPL provided almost 2,000 free wellness programs at library branches across Davidson County, including 16 weekly yoga classes, dance, cooking demos, and meditation. www.library.nashville.org/event/be-well-npl
Aegis Sciences Corporation
Alignment Nashville
Alive Hospice
American Cancer Society
American Heart Association
American Lung Association
Amerigroup
Baby & Co.
Bank of America
Baptist Healing Trust
Bass Berry & Sims
Belmont University
Belmont University School of Pharmacy
BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee
Bridgestone Americas
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
Catalyst Healthcare Research
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Change Healthcare
Cigna HealthSpring
Colliers International
Connectus Health
Cressey & Co.
Cumberland Consulting Group
Cumberland Pediatric Foundation
CVS Health
eTransX, Inc.
Faith Family Medical Clinic
Governorʼs Foundation for Health and Wellness
Hall Strategies
HCA
Healthy Nashville Leadership Council
The Heimerdinger Foundation
Hope Through Healing Hands
Hope Clinic for Women
Interfaith Dental Clinic
Jarrard Phillips Cate & Hancock
LifePoint Health
Lipscomb School of Pharmacy
March of Dimes
Martha OʼBryan Center
Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center
Meharry Medical College
Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance
Mental Health America of Middle Tennessee
Metro Public Health Department
Metro Nashville Police Department
Metro Nashville Public Schools
Metro Developmental Housing Agency
Mount Zion Baptist Church
Nashville Academy of Medicine
Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce
Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Nashville Civic Design Center
Nashville General Hospital
Nashville Health Care Council
Nashville Public Library
Neighborhood Health
New Beginnings Center
Nurses for Newborns
Office of the Mayor
Office of Senator Bill Frist
Pfizer
Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee
RWJF Center for Health Policy at Meharry Medical College
Safety Net Consortium
Saint Thomas Health
Siloam Family Health Center
TennCare
Tennessee Department of Health
Tennessee Hospital Association
Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition
Tennessee Pharmacists Association
Tennessee Primary Care Association
Tennessee Public Health Association
Tennessee State University
The Little Clinic
The Nature Conservancy
Tivity Health
TriStar Centennial Medical Center
UBS Nashville Business Solutions Center
UnitedHealthcare
United Way
Urology Associates
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Vanderbilt University School of Nursing and Medicine
Vector Management
Warner Music Nashville
Walgreens
Womenʼs Heart Alliance
YMCA of Middle Tennessee