Fern Kaufman is a native of the Delaware Valley, growing up in Northeast Philadelphia and attending Northeast High School. Just weeks out of high school, Fern departed for Israel for her first year of college at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on a leadership training program. Completing her first year of college in five months, the program moved on to a kibbutz (a self-supportive collective community) next to the Gaza strip in the desert. Throughout the nine months in Israel, Fern traveled all over the country becoming immersed in the local culture, volunteering with children, teaching and learning about the Middle East and witnessing first hand the history of many peoples and faiths.

Once back home, she enrolled at Temple University and earned a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy degree, and then a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia and a Masters of Business Administration in Healthcare Administration Degree from Wilmington University.

Dr. Kaufman has spent her life dedicated to healthcare as a licensed pharmacist and pain manager in hospitals. Currently a hospital pharmacy administrator, she has a keen awareness of the healthcare system from the inside. With the debate on how to approach healthcare in the state and country, Fern will offer a unique perspective on how things can be fixed from the inside out in a budget neutral, fiscally responsible way. We all agree that it is broken to some extent, but how to fix it is complex and a responsible and measured approach to the process is something Fern has spent her career doing.

Professionally, Fern has served as the President of the Pennsylvania Society of Health- System Pharmacists. As the only Pennsylvania pharmacy organization dedicated to the profession of pharmacy as practiced in the hospital setting

Although healthcare is a focal point for Fern, civil liberties and equality are also at the core of Fern’s ideology. Having experienced job discrimination herself she knows firsthand the need for strong and decisive voices for full equality for everyone just as our founders had envisioned at the inception of our country.

Eliminating or drastically lowering property taxes, preserving open space, environmental protection and renewable energy development coupled with creating jobs and decreasing crime are complex problems that need serious, dedicated people to work both sides of the aisle. We must begin the process of making life better for those who live in the 26th District and all who proudly call Pennsylvania home, as Fern has done her whole life.

Fern resides in West Caln Township, Chester County with her partner Cheryl and their three rescue dogs.