Priscilla Chan facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Priscilla Chan
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Chan in 2018
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| Born | February 24, 1985 Braintree, Massachusetts, U.S.
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| Education | Harvard University (BS) University of California, San Francisco (MD) |
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| Children | 3 |
Priscilla Chan (born February 24, 1985) is an American doctor who specializes in children's health. She is also a philanthropist, which means she gives money and time to help others.
Priscilla Chan and her husband, Mark Zuckerberg, started something called the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in December 2015. Mark Zuckerberg is a co-founder and CEO of Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook. They promised to give away 99 percent of their Facebook shares to this initiative. At the time, these shares were worth about $45 billion. Priscilla Chan went to Harvard University and later became a medical doctor at the University of California, San Francisco.
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Early Life and Education
Priscilla Chan was born in Braintree, Massachusetts. She grew up in Quincy, Massachusetts. Her parents were refugees from Vietnam. They came to the United States in boats to find a new home.
Priscilla grew up speaking Cantonese. She often helped her grandparents by translating for them. Her grandparents raised her and her two younger sisters, Michelle and Elaine. This was because her parents were busy working. Her father owned a restaurant. Later, he sold it to start a wholesale fish company.
High School Achievements
Priscilla was a very bright student. She was the top student in her class at Quincy High School. Her classmates even voted her "Class Genius." She was also involved in the FIRST Robotics Competition team and was the captain of the tennis team.
Going to College
Her parents wanted her to go to college. However, they didn't know much about the process. Priscilla was the first person in her family to go to college. She says that education is very important to her. She believes that sometimes you don't know how much you can achieve until someone else points it out. She thanks her public school teachers for helping her realize her potential. They also made her excited about learning.
Priscilla received a full scholarship to attend Harvard University. At first, she felt out of place there. She even thought about transferring to another school. But then, she started working with a program called Franklin Afterschool Enrichment. She met a young girl there who had broken teeth. This experience made Priscilla want to stay at Harvard and become a pediatrician. She realized she wanted to help children and solve problems like that. She decided that medical school would give her the skills she needed.
Medical School and Career
After graduating from Harvard in 2007 with a degree in biology, she taught science for a year. She taught 4th and 5th graders at the Harker School in San Jose, California. In 2008, she started medical school at the University of California, San Francisco. She earned her medical degree in 2012. Then, she completed her training in pediatrics in 2015. After that, she worked as a pediatrician at San Francisco General Hospital.
Personal Life
Priscilla Chan met Mark Zuckerberg in 2003. This was during her first year at Harvard University. They met at a party for a college club. Mark Zuckerberg later became the co-founder and CEO of Meta Platforms, which runs Facebook.
Priscilla and Mark got married on May 19, 2012. This was just one day after Facebook's stock became available to the public. They have three daughters together. Their names are Maxima (born in December 2015), August (born in August 2017), and Aurelia (born in March 2023). Mark Zuckerberg has shared that Priscilla is a Buddhist.
In 2024, a tall green and silver statue of Priscilla Chan was revealed. Mark Zuckerberg had it made for her. The statue got a lot of attention in the news.
Philanthropy and Giving Back
Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg have given a lot of money to help others. This is called philanthropy. They have pledged about $4.6 billion to different charities. This includes a $75 million donation to San Francisco General Hospital, where Priscilla used to work.
In 2013, they gave 18 million Facebook shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. These shares were worth more than $970 million at the time. A magazine called The Chronicle of Philanthropy named them the most generous American philanthropists that year. They also promised $120 million to public schools in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Primary School
In 2016, Priscilla co-founded "The Primary School." This is a special organization that helps children from kindergarten through 12th grade. It also provides care for pregnant mothers in East Palo Alto, California. She used to be the main leader of the school's board.
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
On December 1, 2015, Priscilla and Mark wrote a public letter on Facebook to their new baby daughter. In this letter, they promised to give away 99 percent of their Facebook shares. These shares were worth $45 billion at the time. They put this money into the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. This is their company that focuses on improving health and education.
Priscilla Chan manages the daily work at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Her goals for giving back are focused on education, healthcare, and science. These areas are very important to her because of her own life experiences. She has greatly influenced her husband's charitable work. In 2017, she was nominated for an award called the San Francisco Chronicle's Visionary of the Year. This award honors leaders who work to make the world better and bring new ideas to create change.
See also
In Spanish: Priscilla Chan para niños
