Pam Ling

On the Real World

During the show, Ling was a Phi Beta Kappa member from Harvard and in her third year of medical school, finishing a difficult rotation in the first weeks. She was one of the more calm and low-key roommates, alongside Mohammed Bilal, and was among the last that Puck would agree to talk to during conflicts. She became close with Pedro Zamora and Judd Winick, and the three were inseparable, with Cory joining them halfway through their stay. Ling attempted a long-distance relationship with her boyfriend Chris; the roommates surprised her by having him visit on her birthday with a mock presentation of This Is Your Life, featuring a tuxedo-wearing Winick as announcer and Chris as the final person to appear.

Unbeknownst to anyone, Winick had developed feelings for Ling, and after she would get home late from work and fall asleep with a book across her lap and a pen in her hand, Winick would turn off her bedside lamp, put the book away, and cover her up. Ling and Winick supported Zamora by attending his lectures whenever they could.

After the Real World

After the show, Ling's relationship with Chris ended, and she began a romantic relationship with Winick. They visited Zamora in his hometown of Miami as he was hospitalized, and their feelings deepened during those visits. On November 11, 1994, the day after the last San Francisco Real World episode aired, Zamora died. Ling and Winick began dating in 1995 and moved in together, announcing their relationship at a Real World Reunion Special that brought together casts of the first four seasons.

After five years of dating, Winick proposed with a cartoon he made for the occasion, presenting it while wearing a gorilla suit; the cartoon offered Ling two choices to answer his proposal. After she accepted, he summoned three singing Elvis Presley impersonators. They married in a civil ceremony on August 26, 2001, with writer Armistead Maupin speaking. As of 2008, they have two children.

The couple continues Zamora's work in AIDS education. Ling completed her residency in primary care at UCSF in 1999 and entered an AIDS-research fellowship.

She is internationally known for research on tobacco marketing, industry strategies targeting youth and young adults, marketing of novel tobacco products, and novel interventions to prevent smoking and promote cessation among priority populations. She is Director of the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education and an experienced transdisciplinary mentor for early career researchers. Her clinical practice is in general internal medicine.