State Senator Richard Pan and Dr. Peter Chin-Hong honored by Chinese American and Chinese Canadian physicians

(SAN FRANCISCO) Two Chinese American physicians, State Senator Richard Pan and Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, who have made distinguished contributions beyond his healthcare profession, were honored by their peers in the medical community at San Francisco over the weekend.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Federation of Chinese American and Chinese Canadian Medical Societies (FCMS) whose members are the ethnic Chinese physicians practicing in the United States and Canada.

FCMS hosts professional conferences around the cities in North America every two years. The 21st conference was held at the University of California San Francisco Mission Bay campus on October 15 and 16.

Dr. Cynthia Lin, Chief of Medicine Medical Director of Chinese Hospital, and Dr. Gordon Fung, a cardiologist at UCSF Medical Center at Mount Zion, are the 21st conference committee co-chairs. Dr. Pan and Dr. Chin-Fong were honored with the FCMS Achievement Award and Chinese Hospital 46th Annual Award respectively at the Asian Art Museum.

State Senator Pan is also a practicing pediatrician. He won in the elections as State Assemblymember in 2010 and State Senator in 2014 representing the 6th District in Sacramento. Because of the legislative term limit of 12 years of service, Pan is leaving the state capitol in December.

Pan has made history as the first Chinese American physician to be elected as state legislator in the history of California.

Throughout Pan's 12-year tenure, he had made national headlines by introducing the country's strongest vaccination law to tighten childhood vaccine requirements. Time Magazine honored him as a "hero". He leaves behind a legacy of championing public health initiatives and taking the lead on vaccine legislation before and during the pandemic

Pan, who is a second generation Chinese immigrant from Taiwan, was born on the east coast and moved to Sacramento, state capitol of California. He has practiced as a pediatrician and taught at the University of California Davis Medical School before he was elected to the state legislature.

In the award ceremony, Pan shared with his fellow physicians why he decided to run for public office 12 year ago. At that time, everyone talked about how no Chinese American could win in the election. Pan wanted to increase the quality and the access of healthcare services through legislation. He made up his mind to run for the Assembly and won as the first Chinese American state legislator in the history of the Sacramento.

During his 12-year service in the state capitol, Pan has continued treating low-income children. He plans to go back to practice as a physician and teach at Medical school.

Pan has been the Chair of the AAPI caucus at the state legislature for the past two years. Anti-Asian hate and violence has been one of the top priorities that Pan has focused on in addition to healthcare issues. He hoped the community would continue to fight together against the hate and violence.

This is the beginning of ending the COVID pandemic. COVID-related health issue was one of the main topics during the 2-day conference among the Chinese American physicians in North America.

Dr. Chin-Hong, Associate Dean for Regional Campus at UCSF, has been a well-known expert on COVID since 2020. He offered a speech at the conference with updated studies related to COVID pandemic.

When asked about the COVID vaccination and the booster shots. Dr. Chin-Hong emphasized the effectiveness of both COVID vaccines and the booster shots. "We have seen more deaths among the COVID patients who were unboosted.”

Dr. Chin-Hong suggested people continue to wear masks in the crowded indoor settings, and take the COVID tests before visiting the family members in order to protect others.

In receiving the Chinese Hospital 46th Annual Award, Dr. Chin-Hong talked about his roots in the Chinese community and his mother who was from Guangdong always reminding him not to say his Chinese name wrong.

He has been interviewed by numerous journalists for updates on the COVID. "It has been a privilege for me to speak to the media to provide the latest about COVID, not only the Asian media, but also the local and national media," said Dr. Chin-Hong.