Machell Town’s introduction to statistics was as a statistician for the Boys and Girls Club varsity basketball team and, even though she started out at the University of Georgia majoring in computer science, she eventually changed her major to statistics. Town earned her PhD in public health with a concentration in epidemiology from Walden University. Currently, she is the branch chief for the Population Health Surveillance Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She mentors young professionals and students inside and outside the CDC and was appointed to the statistics advisory committee of Preventing Chronic Disease.