Priscilla Chan: Education, Philanthropy, and Impact
Priscilla Chan, born on February 24, 1985, is an American pediatrician, philanthropist, and the wife of Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Meta Platforms. Her journey from a child of refugees to a prominent figure in philanthropy is a testament to the power of education, hard work, and a deep commitment to social good.
Early Life and Education
Priscilla Chan's early life was marked by the experiences of her parents, who were Chinese refugees fleeing Vietnam in boats. She was born in Braintree, Massachusetts, and grew up in Quincy, Massachusetts. Growing up, Chan spoke Cantonese and served as an interpreter for her grandparents, who primarily raised her and her two younger sisters, Michelle and Elaine, while her parents worked. Her father initially owned a restaurant near Boston Symphony Hall and Northeastern University in Boston, later selling it to run a wholesale fish company in 2006.
Despite her parents' support for higher education, they were unfamiliar with the college application process, including the SAT exam. Chan attended Quincy High School in Massachusetts, where she graduated in 2003 as class valedictorian and was also involved in the robotics club.
Chan is the first college graduate in her family, a distinction that has deeply influenced her perspective on education. She has stated 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." She credits her public school teachers with recognizing her potential and "getting me excited about learning."
Harvard University
Chan received a full scholarship to attend Harvard University. Initially feeling out of place, she considered transferring. However, her involvement with the Franklin Afterschool Enrichment program changed her trajectory. An encounter with a young girl who had broken teeth motivated her to stay at Harvard and pursue a career as a pediatrician. This experience highlighted the social and economic inequities in society and fueled her desire to make a difference in children's lives. 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." It was at Harvard in 2003 that she met Mark Zuckerberg.
Read also: Tuition & Fees at UMass Chan
Medical Career
After graduating from Harvard, Chan worked as an elementary school teacher. She later pursued a medical degree at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Her experiences in the medical field further solidified her commitment to healthcare and social equity. Chan said she started learning Spanish after realizing several of her patients spoke the language. She now works as a pediatrician.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
In December 2015, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg founded the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) with a pledge to transfer 99% of their Meta shares, then valued at $45 billion, to venture capital and philanthropic initiatives. The initiative seeks to advance human potential and promote equality. Initially, focus areas will include personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people, and building strong 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. A notable hallmark of the initiative is that it is a limited liability company, not a nonpro t charitable organization, and can invest in a wide range of entities to accomplish its goals. As an LLC, the Initiative’s tax implications differ from standard nonprofits. Stock given to the Initiative will not result in tax credits and will remain under Zuckerberg and Chan’s control through their ownership of the Initiative. However, when they liquidate or contribute these shares for direct grants, they will be eligible for tax benefits. Additionally, by transferring their wealth in company shares to the Initiative, Zuckerberg and Chan can avoid paying estate taxes on their wealth in the future upon their deaths. On the other hand, the LLC will be liable for income or capital gains taxes on any successful investments into for-profit companies.
Chan and Zuckerberg are listed as “co-founders” of the Initiative, though they describe themselves as “co-CEOs.” Chan and Zuckerberg meet at least once per week to discuss the Initiative, but Chan runs the organization day-to-day.
Focus on Education
Chan's commitment to education is deeply rooted in her personal experiences. As the first in her family to graduate from college, she understands the transformative power of education and the importance of providing opportunities for all students. This is reflected in CZI's focus on personalized learning and supporting initiatives that promote educational equity. A child of immigrants, Chan has spoken publicly about how public education has shaped her life. She described how her parents left Vietnam in refugee boats, seeking a better future but not understanding the education system in their new homeland. Ms. Chan grew up serving as an interpreter for her grandparents, who did not speak English, while her mother worked long hours at a Chinese restaurant and other jobs. As the first in her family to graduate from college, Ms. Chan said, “Education is an incredibly personal issue for me… If you are the first generation to go to college, sometimes you do not realize your potential until others point it out.” She credits her public school teachers for having confidence in her. “It was really my teachers who got me opportunities to attend college, to go to medical school, and to be able to give back as a doctor today,” she said. “They’re the ones who said, ‘You know, apply to Harvard." As a former teacher, I know how powerful it is to have tools built for real classrooms that are grounded in research.
Read also: Jackie Chan's Operatic Roots
In 2016, Chan and education entrepreneur Meredith Liu founded the Primary School, a private non-profit elementary school and health services organization which caters to low-income families in Palo Alto and Hayward, California. The Primary School is funded by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. However, in April 2025, the school, which decried the effects of systemic racism and poverty, announced its closure after CZI pulled funding for it. CZI announced that it was going to invest $50 million in the school’s surrounding communities over the next few years, donating to education savings plans for all Primary School students, as well as support for families transitioning to new districts.
Focus on Healthcare
As a pediatrician, Chan is deeply moved by seeing children’s lives changed, often dramatically, by proper medical care. Children’s health, safety, and happiness drive much of what she does in life and work. Her work teaching at a private college preparatory school in San Jose, California, and volunteering as a tutor and mentor at an after-school enrichment program in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, give her firsthand experiences with the social and economic inequities in society.
Chan is an advocate of increased organ donations. In 2016, Chan stood on a stage beside Zuckerberg and asked, “Can we cure all diseases in our children’s lifetime?” and answered the question affirmatively. In 2020, she rededicated to the goal of “cure, prevent, or manage all diseases” by 2100 and called it a realistic goal. The philanthropy used to support the goal did not necessarily payoff immediately with a drug trial or vaccination drive but was seen as more of a long-term investment. Imagine if we could catch the earliest signals of disease before symptoms ever appear. AI is helping us ask-and begin to answer-some of the biggest questions in science. Like: What are the early signs of cancer in a cell?
Focus on Science
In June 2025, Chan confirmed that CZI would increase its focus on biology and artificial intelligence, focusing its giving on science-based projects. Through the foundation, she bought Meta, an artificial intelligence research tool that scientists will be able to use to examine millions of scientific papers at once. Working in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies, her organization contributed a portion of the $225 million needed to launch Resolve, a global health initiative to reduce deaths from heart attacks and strokes in 60 low-income countries.
Political Activities and Controversies
The Initiative has given grants to numerous left-of-center and left-wing nonprofits related to expansionist immigration advocacy and increased leniency in criminal justice, including the National Immigration Forum, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, the American Immigration Council, the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, the Justice Action Center, the Civil Rights Corps, Common Justice, the Poverty and Race Research Action Council, the Tides Center, the Center for American Progress, the Niskanen Center, and NEO Philanthropy. However, the Initiative has also contributed to a few right-of-center and libertarian organizations, including the American Conservative Union Foundation, Conservatives for Criminal Justice Reform, and the Cato Institute.
Read also: Internship Opportunities at CZI
Since 2015, the Initiative has given almost $24 million to the FWD.us Education Fund, the charitable advocacy component of FWD.us, a left-of-center PAC founded by Zuckerberg in 2014 that supports liberal policies in immigration, criminal justice, and higher education spending.
In 2020, Chan and Zuckerberg donated $400 million to local election agencies and non-profits that focus on elections to combat potential election fraud and support the conversion of polling stations to operate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their donation matched the total amount spent by the US government on the matter. The left-of-center Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) received $250 million from Zuckerberg and Chan, the single largest donation.
Chan drew criticism from staffers from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative for attending President Donald Trump’s second inauguration and for allegedly abandoning liberal causes. After attending the inauguration, Chan addressed CZI staffers and asked them to stay optimistic about Trump’s presidency and to celebrate the peaceful transfer of power. CZI also ended its inspired diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) teams; ended some advocacy work; and reportedly pulled its funding for a school for low-income children inspired by the left-of-center notion of “systemic racism” in East Palo Alto, California. The staffers accused CZI of being focused on being bipartisan, having a uniquely empowered communications department that ensured that CZI’s work did not alienate conservatives, and being too scared to make headlines which reflected negatively on Mark Zuckerberg and Meta. The staffers claimed they joined CZI due to high salaries, the opportunity to work with luminaries in their fields, and the group’s promises to chart a better course for billionaire philanthropy. The staffers accused Chan of tending to cry when things got tough, which shutdown sensitive discussions around issues of race, and argue she was too constrained by Zuckerberg and his company.
Lawsuit Allegations
In October 2021, Mia King, who worked as a security employee for Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, sued the couple alleging racial and sexual discrimination. While the lawsuit did not allege that the couple themselves committed any acts of discrimination against King, the lawsuit named the couple in their capacity as employers for allowing the discrimination to happen. The couple claimed they investigated King’s allegations and found them to be unsubstantiated. The couple also claimed King first raised the allegations through her lawyers and with a substantial monetary demand.
Personal Life and Recognition
In September 2010, Chan moved in with Zuckerberg. "Priscilla Chan is moving in this weekend," he wrote. Chan and Zuckerberg married in May 2012. They have three children. In 2024, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are expecting baby No. 3.
She was one of six nominated for the San Francisco Chronicle's third annual Visionary of the Year award in March 2017. In 2024, a 7-foot-tall (2.1 m) green and silver statue of Chan commissioned by her husband Mark Zuckerberg was unveiled on Zuckerberg's Instagram account.
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