Chan first met Mark Zuckerberg during her freshman year at
Harvard University in 2003. During her time at Harvard, she participated in the Franklin Afterschool Enrichment program.[10] After graduating in 2007 with a bachelor's degree in biology, she taught 4th and 5th grade science at the private
Harker School for a year before entering medical school at the
University of California, San Francisco in 2008,[11][12] where she finished her pediatrics
residency in 2015.[13][7] She is the
first college graduate in her family and has said that "education is an incredibly personal issue" for her, noting that "[i]f you're the first generation to go to college...sometimes you don't realize your potential until others point it out."[7][14] She credits her public school teachers with recognizing hers and for "getting me excited about learning."[14] She was a pediatrician at
San Francisco General Hospital.[15]
In 2016, she co-founded "The Primary School", a nonprofit organization that would provide
K–12 education as well as
prenatal care, in
East Palo Alto, California.[7] She is the emeritus board chair of the school.[16]
Personal life
Chan married
Facebook co-founder and CEO
Mark Zuckerberg on May 19, 2012, the day following Facebook's
IPO.[7] They have three daughters: Maxima[A][17] (born December 2015),[18][19][20] August (born August 2017),[21] and Aurelia (born March 2023).[22]
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, which is their new limited liability company that focuses on health and education.[6][23]
Chan handles the day-to-day operations at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.[24] Her charitable goals focus on education, healthcare, and science, which are closely tied to her personal background.[7] She is considered to have had a strong influence on the philanthropy of her husband.[6] She was one of six nominated for The San Francisco Chronicle'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.[27]
^"Priscilla Chan". The Primary School. March 8, 2022. Retrieved April 16, 2024.
^Kell, John (February 8, 2016).
"Mark Zuckerberg Reveals Daughter's Chinese Name". Fortune.
Archived from the original on March 6, 2021. Retrieved February 29, 2016. In a pretty adorable video shared by the tech executive over the weekend, Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan said their daughter Max's Chinese name is Chen Mingyu.