Richard Pan

Richard Juien-Dah Pan (; born October 28, 1965) is an American Democratic politician and physician who served in the California State Senate from 2014 to 2022, representing the 6th Senate district, which encompassed parts of Sacramento and Yolo counties. He is also a practicing pediatrician and professor at the University of California, Davis.

Early life and education

Pan was born to a Taiwanese American immigrant family in Yonkers, New York. He was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He earned a bachelor's degree from Johns Hopkins University, a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Master of Public Health from Harvard University. He completed his pediatric residency at Massachusetts General Hospital also serving as Chief Resident and a fellowship at Children's Hospital Boston in child advocacy and primary care research.

Pan was a professor at the University of California, Davis where he led the pediatric residency program and founded Communities and Physicians Together, a service learning curriculum that placed physicians-in-training with community settings to learn about social determinants of health.

Legislative career

Prior to being elected to the State Senate in 2014, he was a member of the California State Assembly representing the 5th Assembly District, and after the 2010 redistricting, the 9th Assembly District. Pan was Chair of the California Asian American & Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus from 2020-2022.

Following a measles outbreak that began in California and infected 131 people, Pan and Senator Ben Allen introduced California Senate Bill 277 in 2015, which eliminated philosophical and religious beliefs exemptions to vaccine requirements for California school children. The bill passed and was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown. Pan authored laws to expand newborn screening for severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome (AB395 in 2011), adrenoleukodystrophy (AB1559 in 2014) and all conditions recommended by the federal DHHS Recommended Universal Screening Panel (SB1095 in 2016). Pan authored legislation to extend the California Children's Services Program managed care carve-out (AB301 in 2011) and to establish the Medi-Cal Children's Health Advisory Board to guide Medi-Cal policy affecting children (AB357 in 2014). In 2021 he authored a law (SB 742) that makes illegal to "harass, intimidate, injure or obstruct" people who are on their way to get a vaccination; the law was inspired by an incident in January when protesters targeted and briefly shut down a mass vaccination site in Los Angeles.

In 2022, together with Senator Scott Wiener, Pan introduced Senate Bill 866 which would have allowed minors aged 15 and older to give consent to receive FDA-approved vaccinations for themself. The bill did not become law.

Personal life

Pan and his wife, Wen Li-Wang, have two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pan, Richard
1965 births
21st-century American physicians
American pediatricians
American politicians of Taiwanese descent
California politicians of Chinese descent
Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly
Educators from California
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health alumni
Johns Hopkins University alumni
Living people
Politicians from Pittsburgh
Politicians from Sacramento, California
Politicians from Yonkers, New York
University of California, Davis faculty
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine alumni
Candidates in the 2024 United States elections
21st-century members of the California State Legislature