Distinguished Service

Polly Marchbanks received a BSN and MSN from The University of Texas at Austin, and a PhD in epidemiology from The University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston.

In 1984, while presenting dissertation results at her first SER annual meeting, Polly was recruited to CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS), a two-year post-doctoral program in applied epidemiology. She entered the EIS in 1985 and later became the first woman and first non-physician to serve as Chief of the EIS. Read more

While Chief, Polly led the training of EIS Officers and supervised the administration of over 300 epidemic aid missions that helped control public health emergencies around the world, including hantavirus in the southwestern US, E. coli O157:H7 from undercooked hamburgers at a fast food restaurant chain, cryptosporidiosis in the Milwaukee water supply which sickened 400,000 persons, devastation from Hurricane Andrew, and a massive refugee crisis in Burundi.

Polly’s 30-year career at CDC spanned a broad range of topics, and her central focus was research and translation activities in the field of women’s health. As Team Leader of Fertility Epidemiology Studies in the Division of Reproductive Health, she was a Principal Investigator of the NICHD Women’s Contraceptive and Reproductive Experiences Study, a member of the Oxford Collaborative Groups on Reproductive Cancer, a technical advisor to WHO on contraceptive issues, and a leader in the development and implementation of global and domestic evidence-based family planning guidelines which are used in over 50 countries globally and have changed contraceptive practice in the United States.

Polly has taught epidemiology in Zimbabwe, Romania, Moldova, Republic of Georgia, China, South Africa, and Ghana. She authored over 160 scientific publications and is an elected member of the American Epidemiological Society. She received multiple CDC awards including the Shepard Science Award, the Shepard Lifetime Scientific Achievement Award, the Watson Medal of Excellence, and two Distinguished Service Medals from the US Public Health Service. She is also the recipient of the John Snow Award from the Epidemiology Section of APHA in conjunction with the John Snow Society and Royal Society for Public Health in England.

In 2015, Polly retired from CDC. She is continuing to collaborate on research and translation projects, and she is continuing to serve as an Editor of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Throughout the years, Polly has been an active member of SER.  She served as a Member-at-Large of the Executive Committee, a local host for the annual meeting, and President. In 1992, she proposed to the SER Board an idea for adding a Late-Breaker Session to the annual meeting. The proposal was accepted and, starting in 1993, she coordinated and chaired the SER Late-Breaker Session for 22 years. In 2015, the baton for the Late-Breaker Session passed to other capable hands, and the session continues to be an integral part of the SER annual meeting.