Diana Ming Chan was born in 1929 in San Francisco, California. The circumstances of Diana Chan's early life played a major role in the passion that she brought to her social work on behalf of children in schools. Her mother had been a former prostitute, brought to California for the sex trade that had flourished in the Chinese American community following the passage of the Page Act of 1875. This law had essentially blocked the immigration of almost all Chinese women and the formation of normal Chinese families in the United States. Diana was sent to an orphanage when she was only 18 months old after the death of her mother. Later she was sent to her father who left her in the care of an opium addict in the evenings. Diana Chan later wrote that it was in the fifth grade that a teacher invited her and other students to her home where she played for the first time in her life. The experience proved to be a turning point. In her first year of college, she spent time in a summer program in New York's Bowery working at the Settlement House on behalf of the YWCA working with low income students. In her youthful idealism she became set on "saving the world" and the quickest way to do that she determined was through social work by helping people to work together in groups. After earning a Bachelor's degree in social work at the University of California, Berkeley and a Master's degree in social work at University of Minnesota, she became a professional social worker for 54 years. Ms. Chan broke the "color" barrier as the first Cantonese speaking Chinese MSW in San Francisco Chinatown. She helped bring the “cultural" in cultural competence through her work and training with many social workers in clinics, churches, and other private nonprofit organizations. She advocated for the recruitment and training of social workers of color during the Civil Rights and War On Poverty eras. One of Ms. Chan's greatest accomplishments was her work translating the lessons of direct service to policy. As a lifelong youth and family social worker, Ms. Chan became resolute in her conviction that prevention and early intervention were critical services to helping all students and families become or remain healthy. She saw that this was especially true for immigrant families. During the War on Poverty in the 1960s, Chan provided substantial evidence for San Francisco's Chinatown to be considered a "targeted community" and thereby be eligible to receive federal funding for social work programs and services. This funding led to the creation of many organizations including Self-Help for the Elderly, Chinese Newcomers Service Center, Chinatown Child Development Center, and Northeast Mental Health Services. In reaction to the new demand for Chinese American social workers, the City College of San Francisco created a two-year program for social work paraprofessionals. Chan also lobbied for school social work. She successfully convinced the San Francisco Board of Education to create school positions for social workers. She was well known in school support circles in San Francisco for her innovative and effective dumpling diplomacy. She invited top policy officials to her home to share a delicious Chinese dinner and to hear about her passion for school social work. With the nurses, Ms. Chan was able to effectively lobby the Board of Education for $1.5 million to hire five school social workers and five school nurses. In the following year, the number was doubled for each profession. In 2007, Diana was nominated to be a member of the NASW Social Work Pioneers®, received the NASW California Chapter’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and was elected to the California Social Work Hall of Distinction, University of Southern California, School of Social Work.

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