Who is Priscilla Chan?

Now that the dust has settled on the madness that was Facebook’s IPO debut, Zuckerberg admirers can turn their attentions to the latest change on Mark’s timeline. Zuckerberg married Priscilla Chan, his girlfriend of nine years, this past Saturday in a surprise wedding. Guests thought they were going to a graduation party for Chan, who recently graduated from UCSF Medical School, actually were invited to watch the couple say their vows to each other.

However, there is little known about who Priscilla Chan is, especially since she has been girlfriend to the creator of Facebook for the past nine years. That makes her an honorary technology celebrity, right? Her relationship with Zuckerberg is a unique one that has evolved with time, and shows a new side of the Facebook King that we have not seen before.

Zuckerberg and Chan both attended Harvard University together, and met one eventful night waiting in line for the bathroom at Zuckerberg’s fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi (this should give hope to all you girls and boys who think you’ll never find love in those dingy fraternity basements). The couple starting dating shortly after the disciplinary administrative-board meeting over Zuckerberg’s creation of Facemash.

After majoring in biology at Harvard, Chan went on to be a science teacher at The Harker School in San Jose, California. After that year of teaching, she decided to follow her dreams and go on to medical school for pediatrics. Zuckerberg was at her side the entire time, cheering her on.

Chan also values a certain level of intimacy, which is reflected in the rules she has about their relationship which requires a minimum of 100 minutes of alone time per week that are not at Facebook, and at least one date per week. Dating a young billionaire in charge of one of the largest social media platforms in the world was probably not that easy, and these ground rules seem like an ideal way to start their new marriage this past week.

There were also many inquiries about the date of the wedding. Although there are questions about the timing of the wedding coincidentally falling the day after the debut of Facebook’s IPO, a friend of the couple said it was not meant to coincide with that date since the date of the company going public was a “moving target.” It does seem like the couple tried to wait until Chan finished with medical school to get married, which is a much sweeter way to view the wedding.

Big congratulations to the newlyweds and their cute dog, Beast. I know I personally am looking forward to hearing more about what Priscilla Chan is about, and how she will continue to influence Mark Zuckerberg in the years to come.