Jane Shin

Two months after her 16th birthday, Shin was awarded $400 by the City of Surrey, British Columbia, as part of its inaugural Youth Recognition Awards. As a child, Shin had volunteered for the Canadian Red Cross Society, Greenpeace, the Multicultural Society of B.C. and others.

In late 2016 Shin announced that she will not run in the 2017 provincial election. The BC NDP nominated Katrina Chen, a Burnaby school trustee, and the BC Liberals nominated Steve Darling.

Shin defeated Liberal candidate Ken Kramer, who replaced the retiring Harry Bloy who had held the riding for 12 years, with 44.26% of the votes over Kramer's 40.59% and Green Party candidate Darwin Burns with only 8.23%, and B.C. Conservative candidate Christine Clark, who ran unaffiliated due to a paperwork glitch, earned just 6.92% of total votes. The confusion during the campaign and Shin's subsequent election victory earned her the 2013 Newsmaker of the Year title from Burnaby Now.

Shin's intention to seek the Burnaby-Lougheed NDP nomination under the party leadership of Adrian Dix was announced in May 2012. Shin's competitor for the nomination was Craig Langston. Shin won the nomination in November 2012, ahead of the 2013 provincial election.

Shin was born in South Korea and emigrated to Canada when she was 11 years old. Around her 16th birthday she was hospitalised for a serious health crisis attributed to leukemia or aplastic anaemia. According to Shin, the experience made her a passionate advocate for Canada's health care system.

Shin studied genetics and cell biology at the University of British Columbia for several years but did not receive an undergraduate degree. Shin later completed a doctorate in medicine in 2007 from Spartan Health Sciences University in Vieux Fort, St. Lucia, in the Caribbean, an institution recognised by the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Medical Council of Canada. During medical school, Shin performed clinical rotations at University of Edinburgh, Dalhousie University, and John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital. Shin's rotation research at the Royal Victoria Infirmary of Newcastle upon Tyne led to two co-authored publications on chronic fatigue syndrome.