Daniel Pollock retired from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2021 after a 37-year career during which he worked as a medical epidemiologist in the agency’s infectious diseases, informatics, injury prevention, and environmental health programs. 

From 2004 – 2021, Dr. Pollock led the CDC unit responsible for national surveillance of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use and resistance. The National Healthcare Safety Network, or NHSN.

In the spring of 2020, he served in CDC’s COVID-19 emergency response as Deputy Incident Manager for data and surveillance. 

This is the first of a two-part discussion with Daniel. 

On this episode (part 1 of 2), we talk with Dr. Pollock about his career path at CDC, the launching of the National Healthcare Safety Network, and lessons learned from designing the Antimicrobial Use and Resistance data collection and measurement programs.

Links and Resources

• A commentary that Dr. Pollock wrote about COVID-19 was published by Emory University’s online journal Southern Spaces in April 2022: https://southernspaces.org/2022/covid-19-lessons-ignorance
• A podcast discussion with Dr. Vivian Lee that discusses, amongst other things, the successful creation and deployment of quality and patient satisfaction measures at the University of Utah Medical Center. The Long Fix: Solving America’s Health Care Crisis with Strategies that Work for Everyone w/ Dr. Vivian Lee

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