Machell Town

Dr. Machell Town is the branch chief for the Population Health Surveillance Branch in the Division of Population Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Machell joined CDC’s Division of Adult and Community Health in November of 1999 as a mathematical statistician in the Behavioral Surveillance Branch(BRFSS). In 2009, she became Team Lead of Survey Operations. Her team has managed the sampling, data processing, weighting and data dissemination of the BRFSS combined landline and cell phone data. Machell provides the expertise in BRFSS state sample designs including oversampling of specific populations or local community needs. Machell has consulted on sample designs and weighting for special surveys such as the Steps to a Healthier US, Communities Putting Prevention to Work and the Asthma Callback. Machell received her Bachelors and Masters in Statistics from the University of Georgia and her PhD in Public Health with a concentration in Epidemiology from Walden University. Before coming to CDC, Machell was a mathematical statistician at the US Bureau of the Census for 9 years where she specialized in sampling, data quality, questionnaire design, weighting, and variance estimators.