Loria Pollack, MD, MPH

Lori A. “Loria” Pollack, MD, MPH, is the Senior Medical Officer for CDC’s National Program of Cancer Registries in the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control (DCPC). Dr. Pollack was instrumental in the U.S. Cancer Statistics data visualization initiative. She advises on multi-state registry projects that focus on innovative approaches to cancer data collection and serves as CDC liaison to the American Joint Committee on Cancer.

Dr. Pollack joined CDC in 2002 as a U.S. Public Health Service officer in the Epidemic Intelligence Service after receiving degrees in medicine and public health from Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She completed Columbia University’s internal medicine residency in Cooperstown, New York, a second preventive medicine residency, and is board-certified in both specialties.

Her career includes remarkably diverse experience in chronic disease, infectious disease, and local public health. Dr. Pollack served from 2002 to 2012 in DCPC’s Epidemiology and Applied Research Branch, primarily characterizing the issue of cancer survivorship and leading national efforts related to quality of life and care after cancer treatment. In 2012, she was assigned to the Medical Director of the local health department in Atlanta, Georgia, where she was instrumental in designing a new HIV prevention program that included outreach to the most at-risk population, including linkage to treatment. She also spent three years (2013 to 2015) in CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, focused on preventing health care-associated illness and addressing antibiotic resistance. Dr. Pollack led a collaboration with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control to develop antibiotic stewardship program indicators included in CDC’s National Health Safety Network annual hospital survey.

Dr. Pollack has published more than 60 peer-reviewed papers and government reports in epidemiology, health service research, and quality improvement. She has served on many of CDC’s public health emergency responses, including a post-hurricane deployment, SARS, fungal meningitis from contaminated injections, and the domestic Ebola response. A driving theme in Dr. Pollack’s career is the translation and dissemination of research into practical guidance and tools to improve health and health care.

Dr. Pollack talks about the importance of cancer registry data to understanding how cancer affects the United States in this podcast.

The most recent and noteworthy articles Dr. Pollack has authored include—

Page last reviewed: February 19, 2019

Content source: Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention