Priscilla Chan

Priscilla Chan was born in Braintree, Massachusetts, on 24th February 1985. Her parents were ethnic Chinese refugees who had fled Vietnam to escape its oppressive government. She grew up in Quincy, Massachusetts. Chan is the oldest of three sisters. She is a Buddhist.

She attended the Quincy High School, where she was a brilliant student. After her graduation, she attended Harvard University to study biology. It was during this time that she met Zuckerberg, and the two started dating. Later she attended medical school at the University of California, San Francisco. She graduated in 2012, and got married to Zuckerberg the same year.

After suffering three miscarriages, the couple finally had their first daughter on 1st December 2015. She was named Maxima Chan Zuckerberg. In March 2017, Mark Zuckerberg announced that they are expecting their second baby.

Priscilla Chan initially worked as a science teacher at the Harker School in San Jose, California. In 2008, she started attending medical school and completed her graduation in 2012. She got married to Mark Zuckerberg the same year, on May 19th, just one day after Facebook’s stock market launch.

Priscilla and her husband have pledged around $1.6 billion to charities. They donated $ 75 million to San Francisco General Hospital where Chan worked for some time. In 2015, the couple founded the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative which had an investment of up to $1 billion in Facebook shares. Though the organization is for the well-being of the human population, it however, is not a charitable trust. It is a limited liability company, which can not only be used for profit, but can also spend money for lobbying, as well as making political donations. Its legal structure lets Zuckerberg still control the Facebook shares owned by the organization.

The organization announced their new science program named Chan Zuckerberg Science in September 2016. With $3 billion in investments over the next decade, the program aims to cure or at least manage all diseases and ailments by the end of this century. They have also decided to spend $600 million on Biohub, which is a location in San Francisco’s Mission Bay District, located near the University of California, in San Francisco, to allow easy interaction as well collaboration between the scientists at the universities in the area.

In 2016, Chan spoke of her plans to launch ‘The Primary School’, which will be a non-profit venture. It will provide K-12 education as well as prenatal care. In March 2017, along with her husband Mark Zuckerberg, she donated $50,000 to the Aloha Angels Endowned Fund.

Chan was among the six people nominated for the third annual Visionary of the Year Award presented by the ‘San Francisco Chronicle’ in March 2017. The award is meant to honor those people whose contributions help in making the world a better place.