Linda Challis Gill is a native Kentuckian from Louisville and Ft. Thomas. No stranger to adversity throughout her childhood, she learned how to overcome and succeed while growing up with an alcoholic mother. A scholarship allowed her to attend the University of Kentucky, and she received her bachelor’s degree in 1962. After considering a career in teaching, Gill chose to travel and see the world instead. She joined American Airlines as a flight attendant and later worked in public relations. She later pursued graduate work in counseling at San Francisco State University. She has been involved for more than 40 years in professional volunteering in the academic medical communities of Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto, Methodist Hospital in Houston and the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

In 1997, Linda and Jack Gill established the Gill Foundation of Texas, an educational philanthropy organization that has awarded nearly $35 million in gifts and grants. Linda serves as executive director of the Foundation, as well as advisor to the Gill Heart Institute at the University of Kentucky, advisor to the Gill Center for Biomolecular Sciences and board member of the Houston Methodist Hospital Community Council.