Planned Parenthood has officially announced that Dr. Leana Wen will take her new position as President of the organization in November, CNN reports, and has a very accomplished past of advocating for and acknowledging the reproductive health rights of women across the country. Here are some of the key things you need to know about her:
To start, Wen, 35, is currently the health commissioner for Baltimore and an emergency physician. This is the first time in 50 years that Planned Parenthood will have a president that is a doctor, the organization wrote in a blog post about Wen.
Wen moved to the United States from China when she was eight years old, according to the New York Times. She graduated from college at 18 and became a clinical fellow at Harvard. Besides this she is also a Rhodes Scholar. She is obviously extremely smart and it’s great to see such a powerful woman making her mark.
Meet our new president, @DrLeanaWen. pic.twitter.com/kNTnYKzww7
— Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) September 12, 2018
In addition to her accomplished education, she has also been a longtime advocate for various reproductive rights issues. For starters, she won a lawsuit against the Trump administration. Yeah, already impressed, right? When Trump’s team indicated that there would be severe cuts to the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, Wen made it her mission to combat this. With her help, the city of Baltimore joined a lawsuit against the administration and the judge ruled in the city’s favor.
Along with challenging (and winning against) Trump, she also received national attention for working to make a drug which would reverse opioid overdoses available over the counter in Baltimore. This action helped to save more than 1,600 lives.
In a written statement released by the organization she wrote about her longtime connection to Planned Parenthood: “as a patient, I depended on Planned Parenthood for medical care at various times in my own life, and as a public health leader, I have seen firsthand the lifesaving work it does for our most vulnerable communities.”
As Wen takes this new leadership position, she is gearing up to face a very controversial and crucial time for the organization. Back in May, Trump presented a nationwide initiative to cut off federal funding to Planned Parenthood if it continues to perform abortions.
Wen is also likely to face many obstacles coming from the administration, but if her proactive past tells us anything, we’re sure she’s up to the challenge.