2015 Distinguished Alumnus Award Winner
Kim Bush has devoted his life and career to the advancement of global health. After completing a highly successful 33-year career at Baxter International Healthcare Corporation, he was recruited in 2011 to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where he served as the foundation’s director of Life Science Partnerships, a senior advisor, and a former member of the Global Health Leadership Team, working to solve some of the world’s toughest health-care issues. He retired from the foundation in 2017 but maintains a special services contract in support of select global health initiatives.
Growing up on Key Biscayne, Florida, his summers were filled with a variety of activities and summer jobs related to diving, fishing, and the outdoors, which sparked an early interest in biology and life sciences. After earning his BS in zoology from UT in 1973, he received an MS in clinical sciences from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1976 and later attended the executive development program at Columbia Business School in New York.
During his career at Baxter, Bush led several global therapeutic and medical device-related businesses, retiring in 2011 after spending the last eight years as president of Baxter’s global Biosciences Vaccine Division.
Bush currently serves on the board of the Research Investment for Global Health Technology (RIGHT) Fund. Previously, Bush held an Institute of Medicine appointment on the Public–Private Partnerships on Global Health and Safety Forum and served as a Gates Foundation board observer for the Global Health Innovation Technology Fund, an organization dedicated to advancing the development of global health products that address the needs of those in the most poorly resourced countries.
A loyal Vol, Bush chairs the External Advisory Council for UT’s Office of Research and Engagement, where he provides valuable insight into how UT can advance the university’s mission of research and engagement.
Kim Bush has devoted his life and career to the advancement of global health. After completing a highly successful 33-year career at Baxter International Healthcare Corporation, he was recruited in 2011 to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where he served as the foundation’s director of Life Science Partnerships, a senior advisor, and a former member of the Global Health Leadership Team, working to solve some of the world’s toughest health-care issues. He retired from the foundation in 2017 but maintains a special services contract in support of select global health initiatives.
Growing up on Key Biscayne, Florida, his summers were filled with a variety of activities and summer jobs related to diving, fishing, and the outdoors, which sparked an early interest in biology and life sciences. After earning his BS in zoology from UT in 1973, he received an MS in clinical sciences from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1976 and later attended the executive development program at Columbia Business School in New York.
During his career at Baxter, Bush led several global therapeutic and medical device-related businesses, retiring in 2011 after spending the last eight years as president of Baxter’s global Biosciences Vaccine Division.
Bush currently serves on the board of the Research Investment for Global Health Technology (RIGHT) Fund. Previously, Bush held an Institute of Medicine appointment on the Public–Private Partnerships on Global Health and Safety Forum and served as a Gates Foundation board observer for the Global Health Innovation Technology Fund, an organization dedicated to advancing the development of global health products that address the needs of those in the most poorly resourced countries.
A loyal Vol, Bush chairs the External Advisory Council for UT’s Office of Research and Engagement, where he provides valuable insight into how UT can advance the university’s mission of research and engagement.
