Priscilla Chan (born February 24, 1985) is an American pediatrician and philanthropist. She and her husband, Mark Zuckerberg, a co-founder and CEO of

Meta Platforms Meta Platforms, Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Meta owns and operates several prominent social media platforms and communication services, including Facebook, Instagram, Threads ...

, established the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in December 2015 with a pledge to transfer 99 percent of their Facebook shares, then valued at $45 billion. She attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and received her medical degree from the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

Early life and education

Chan was born in Braintree, Massachusetts, and grew up in

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county. Quincy is part of the Greater Boston area as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in ...

. Her parents were Chinese refugees who fled

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

in boats. Chan grew up speaking

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

and interpreted for her grandparents who raised her and her two younger sisters, Michelle and Elaine, while her parents worked. Chan's father owned a restaurant in Massachusetts, which he later sold to run a wholesale fish company in 2006. Chan graduated valedictorian of her class from Quincy High School, where she was involved with the FIRST Robotics Competition team #69 HYPER and where she was the captain of the tennis team. Her classmates voted her "Class Genius." Although her parents were supportive of college education, they were unfamiliar with the process, including the

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and Test score, scoring have changed several times. For much of its history, it was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test ...

exam. Chan is the first college graduate in her family and has said that "education is an incredibly personal issue" for her, noting that " you're the first generation to go to college...sometimes you don't realize your potential until others point it out." She credits her public school teachers with recognizing hers and for "getting me excited about learning." Chan received a full scholarship to attend

. Feeling out of place at the school, Chan planned to transfer to another institution; however, her involvement with the Franklin Afterschool Enrichment program, specifically an encounter with a young girl who had broken teeth, inspired Chan to stay and to become a pediatrician. Chan once reflected: "I was devastated. I thought, 'What happened? What did I do wrong? I thought at the time, 'I am not enough yet. … I need more skills. I need more power to be able to solve this.' And so, when you're 20 years old and a type-A Harvard student, the answer is medical school." After graduating in 2007 with a bachelor's degree in biology, she taught 4th and 5th grade science at the private Harker School in San Jose, California, for a year before entering medical school at the

, in 2008, where she graduated with a

Doctor of Medicine A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin language, Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of ph ...

degree in 2012 and then completed residency training in pediatrics in 2015. Chan was a pediatrician at San Francisco General Hospital until 2017.

Personal life

Chan first met Mark Zuckerberg, the future co-founder and CEO of

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

, at a fraternity party during her freshman year at

in 2003. The pair married on May 19, 2012, the day following Facebook's IPO. They have three daughters, born 2015, 2017, and 2023. According to a Facebook post by Zuckerberg, Chan is a

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

. In 2024, a green and silver statue of Chan commissioned by her husband Mark Zuckerberg was unveiled on Zuckerberg's

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

account. The statue attracted considerable media attention and a debate as to whether it was a strange gesture.

Philanthropy

Zuckerberg and Chan have pledged about $4.6 billion to charities, including a donation of $75 million to San Francisco General Hospital, where Chan worked. In 2013, they gave 18 million Facebook shares (valued at more than $970 million) to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. '' The Chronicle of Philanthropy'' placed the couple at the top of its list of 50 most generous American philanthropists for that year. They also pledged $120 million to public schools in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. On December 1, 2015, Chan and Zuckerberg posted an open Facebook letter to their newborn daughter. They pledged to transfer 99 percent of their Facebook shares, then valued at $45 billion, to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), a limited liability company that focuses on health and education. In 2016, Chan and CZI co-founded The Primary School, a nonprofit organization that promised to provide K–12 education, prenatal care, early childhood education, primary health care, and other programs and services for free to residents in East Palo Alto, California and the surrounding areas. She served as the emeritus board chair of the school.In 2022, The Primary School received approximately $8 million in donations, and in 2023, the school recorded nearly $4 million in contributions. In April 2025, CZI announced that it was closing The Primary School's East Palo Alto and San Leandro (East Bay) campuses at the end of the 2025-2026 school year A Message from The Primary School.
The Primary School. Retrieved April 23, 2025. "due to a lack of funding".Flores, Jessica (April 23, 2025)
Shock after closure of Zuckerberg-funded school in Silicon Valley: "We had it all here".
San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved April 23, 2025. Chan did not attend meetings announcing the tuition-free school's closure, and parents are uncertain about what's next for their children. As part of the school's closure announcement, CZI pledged $50 million over five years to "parent engagement programs, early childhood education and health care services" in "the East Palo Alto, Belle Haven, and East Bay communities". Chan handles CZI's day-to-day operations. Her charitable goals focus on education, healthcare, and science, which are closely tied to her personal background. She is considered to have had a strong influence on the philanthropy of her husband. She was one of six nominated for the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

''s third annual Visionary of the Year award in March 2017. The award honors leaders who strive to make the world a better place and also drive change by employing new, innovative business practices.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chan, Priscilla American pediatricians American Buddhists American women pediatricians Physicians from California 21st-century American women philanthropists 21st-century American philanthropists Harvard College alumni University of California, San Francisco alumni People from Palo Alto, California People from Braintree, Massachusetts American people of Chinese descent People of Hoa descent 1985 births Living people 21st-century American physicians 21st-century American women physicians The Harker School alumni Zuckerberg family American women chief executives Quincy High School (Massachusetts) alumni American women company founders Founders of charities American billionaires Female billionaires American nonprofit chief executives Philanthropists from Massachusetts American women nonprofit executives