Richard Pan

---

title: "Richard Pan" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1965-births", "21st-century-american-physicians", "21st-century-members-of-the-california-state-legislature", "american-pediatricians", "american-politicians-of-taiwanese-descent", "california-politicians-of-chinese-descent", "candidates-in-the-2024-united-states-elections", "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"] description: "American politician (born 1965)" topic_path: "politics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pan" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician (born 1965) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Richard Pan
image	Richard Pan.jpg
state_senate	California State
district	6th
term_start	December 1, 2014
term_end	December 5, 2022
predecessor	Darrell Steinberg
successor	Angelique Ashby (redistricted)
state_assembly2	California
district2	9th
term_start2	December 3, 2012
term_end2	November 30, 2014
predecessor2	Roger Dickinson (redistricted)
successor2	Jim Cooper
state_assembly3	California
district3	5th
term_start3	December 6, 2010
term_end3	November 30, 2012
predecessor3	Roger Niello
successor3	Frank Bigelow (redistricted)
birth_name	Richard Juien-Dah Pan
birth_place	Yonkers, New York, U.S.
birth_date
party	Democratic
children	2
education	Johns Hopkins University (BS)
University of Pittsburgh (MD)
Harvard University (MPH)
website
module	{{Infobox Chinese
child	yes
order	ts
hide	no
t	潘
s	潘
p	Pān Jūndá}}
::

|name = Richard Pan |image = Richard Pan.jpg |state_senate = California State |district = 6th |term_start = December 1, 2014 |term_end = December 5, 2022 |predecessor = Darrell Steinberg |successor = Angelique Ashby (redistricted) |state_assembly2 = California |district2 = 9th |term_start2 = December 3, 2012 |term_end2 = November 30, 2014 |predecessor2 = Roger Dickinson (redistricted) |successor2 = Jim Cooper |state_assembly3 = California |district3 = 5th |term_start3 = December 6, 2010 |term_end3 = November 30, 2012 |predecessor3 = Roger Niello |successor3 = Frank Bigelow (redistricted) |birth_name = Richard Juien-Dah Pan |birth_place = Yonkers, New York, U.S. |birth_date = |death_date = |death_place = |party = Democratic |spouse = |children = 2 |education = Johns Hopkins University (BS) University of Pittsburgh (MD) Harvard University (MPH) |website = |module = {{Infobox Chinese |child = yes |order = ts |hide = no |t = 潘 |s = 潘 |p = Pān Jūndá}} 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.

Political 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.

Pan announced that he would run for mayor of Sacramento in June 2023. He dropped out of the race after coming in third in the March 5, 2024 primary.

On October 14, 2025, Pan announced his intention to run for Congress. Following the victory for Proposition 50 has been passed, on November 5, Pan announced his candidacy for 2026 election in the 6th district.

Personal life

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

References

References

1. [https://www.legistorm.com/person/bio/189564/Richard_Juien_Dah_Pan.html Former State Sen. Richard Pan]
2. (July 4, 2015). "California's new vaccine law: Freshman senator wins plaudits from colleagues".
3. (12 June 2023). "Dr. Richard Pan says he's running for Sacramento mayor".
4. "Richard Pan". United States Census Bureau.
5. "Humanitarian Award For UC Davis Pediatrician - UC Davis Medical Center - UC Davis Health System".
6. Anderson, Cathie. (December 19, 2022). "He's leaving California politics as a 'vaccine hero'. One choice set him on that path". [[Sacramento Bee]].
7. (2015). "Measles - United States, January 4-April 2, 2015". Centers for Disease Control Prevention (CDC).
8. (April 17, 2015). "California Measles Surveillance Update". [[California Department of Public Health]].
9. Bluth, Rachel. (October 8, 2021). "New Law Bans Harassment at Vaccination Sites, but Free Speech Concerns Persist". California Healthline.
10. "Bill Text - SB-866 Minors: Vaccine consent".
11. L.A. Times Editorial Board. (19 August 2022). "Editorial: Vaccines are safe. So why shouldn't teens be able to get them on their own?". [[Los Angeles Times]].
12. (September 2022). "Vaccines for teens without parental consent? Not this year, as bill is pulled". Calmatters.
13. (12 June 2023). "Dr. Richard Pan says he’s running for Sacramento mayor". [[KCRA]].
14. Downs, Brandon. (March 25, 2024). "Cofer, McCarty headed to general election for Sacramento mayor after Pan drops out". [[CBS News]].
15. Zavala, AshleyBrandon. (October 14, 2025). "Former state senator behind California vaccine laws to challenge Rep. Kevin Kiley for House District 3". [[KCRA-TV]].
16. Martinez, Jeremiah. (November 4, 2025). "Richard Pan announces campaign for California's redrawn 6th Congressional District". [[KXTV-TV]].
17. (4 July 2015). "California's new vaccine law: Freshman senator wins plaudits from colleagues".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::