American Physician and Professor

Dr. Leana Wen | Biography

Former President of Planned Parenthood

• By Yunil Tamrakar
• Original : December 27, 2021

---

Dr. Leana Wen works at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health as a health policy and management professor.

Who is Dr. Leana Wen?

Dr. Leana Sheryle Wen is an American physician, professor, and writer.

She went to California State University in Los Angeles for her bachelor of science (BS) in biochemistry from 1996 to 2001. She then earned her MD in Medicine from Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine in 2007. Subsequently, from 2007 to 2008, she studied at the University of Oxford for an MSc (economics and social history) and an MSc (modern Chinese studies) from 2008 to 2009.

Upon graduating from medical school, Wen did a residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General), as well as a clinical fellowship at Harvard Medical School in Boston. She is an emergency medicine specialist with board certification.

Then in 2014, Wen joined as the health commissioner for the City of Baltimore and worked there until 2018. There she oversaw the nation’s oldest continuously operating health department, founded in 1793 and staffed by 1,000 people dedicated to improving public health and reducing disparities.

Wen also held the position of President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America from November 2018 to July 2019. She supervised a national healthcare organization with over 600 clinics in all 50 states across the USA.

As of 2021, she works at George Washington University as a health policy and management research professor. Wen also serves as a CNN medical analyst and an independent board member of the audit committee at Glaukos Corporation and Behavioral Health Group.

Parents & Early Bio

Dr. Leana Sheryle Wen was born on 27 January 1983 in Shanghai, China. As of December 2021, she is 38 years old. She was born to her late mother Xiaolu Wen and her father, Sandy Ying Zhang. 

Wen’s father worked for The Chinese Daily News, a Los Angeles-based daily newspaper, as an information technology manager. Her late mother worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District as an elementary school teacher. Unfortunately, she died of breast cancer in 2010. 

Planned Parenthood President 

Wen left her Baltimore post as health commissioner in October 2018 to become Planned Parenthood’s sixth president and CEO. Unfortunately, she was removed from the position in 2019. Wen stated that she had philosophical differences with the organization’s board of directors and decided to double down on abortion rights advocacy.

In a June 2019 Twitter statement announcing her resignation as president of Planned Parenthood, she stated that the organization’s board of directors ended her employment at a secret meeting. Additionally, she wrote, “I am leaving because the new Board Chairs and I have philosophical differences over the direction and future of Planned Parenthood.” 

Husband  

Wen married her husband Sebastian Neil Walker at Boston City Hall on 7 February 2012 after attending a blessing ceremony at Webersburg Winery in Cape Town on 28 November 2011. The pair initially met in London in August 2008. 

Wen and Walker have a son named Eli (born 2017) and a younger daughter named Isabelle (born 2020). 

Walker is an Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist and investigative journalist who works as a correspondent and Middle-East bureau chief for VICE News Tonight on HBO. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

In 2020, Wen tweeted about Walker’s new IT firm, MethodData saying, “Proud of my husband Sebastian who started a small business providing IT software solutions.”