Penelope Chan is a retired scientist who was trained as a microbiologist and immunologist in Australia. Additionally, she has taught medical school in Malaysia. On returning to Canada with a young family, she decided to go into health policy and graduated with a degree in health administration focused on health protection, promotion and public health. She has worked at the provincial, federal and international levels including with the World Health Organization (WHO) in country offices, regional and head offices in Geneva. Particularly, she is now interested in the health and well-being in the increasingly aging population.