Sun-Ming Jessica Pan, MPH ’19

Jessica Pan grew up between the vibrant cities of Shanghai and Taipei before making her way to the 
heart of Silicon Valley. While earning her MPH at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public 
Health, she co-founded the school’s first-ever Gun Violence Action Week (GVAW)—a grassroots 
student initiative across the medical campus designed to tackle the U.S. gun violence epidemic 
through cross-disciplinary collaboration. What started as a bold student-led effort is now an 
annual event and official student club at Columbia’s medical campus, called the Columbia 
Student SURGE Initiative.

Jessica also held leadership roles across multiple student organizations, including the 
Interprofessional Student Advisory Board, Primary Care Progress, and Future Healthcare Leaders. 
She was also among the inaugural cohort of students selected for the Service-Learning Fellowship 
in Puerto Rico. As a student, she was awarded the Realizing Excellence through Action and 
Leadership Fund and the Epidemiology and Population Health Summer Institute Fund and capped 
off her academic journey by receiving the prestigious Columbia Alumni Association Campbell 
Award for Mailman School of Public Health. 

In 2021, she joined the Mailman Alumni Board and co-chaired the newly established FORWARD
Health Equity Committee. Her contributions also extended to Columbia University’s broader 
alumni community, serving on the Columbia Alumni Association’s Task Force on Belonging, 
Leaders Experience Steering Committee, and the Recent Alumni and Student Relations 
Committee. She was honored as the May 2021 Asian Prominent Alum by the Asian Columbia 
Alumni Association for organizing a social media driven bake sale raising $20,000 in two months in 
response to the Atlanta shooting and hate crimes against Asian Americans during the pandemic. 

Jessica’s passion for health, wellness and interprofessionalism inspired her to form the CAA Global 
Health and Wellness Network, Columbia’s first shared interest group in this space. Since its launch
in 2024, the network has grown to over 250 alumni across six major U.S. cities. This past year, she 
also took on the role of Vice President of Marketing for the Global Board of Columbia Venture 
Community, where she continues to cultivate strong, innovative communities within the Columbia 
University ecosystem. Go Lions!