Susan L. Polan, Ph.D., is the Associate Executive Director for Public Affairs and Advocacy with the American Public Health Association. She oversees the Association's departments of government relations, affiliate affairs, communications, membership services and component affairs. She is responsible for organizing the annual Policy Action Institute. The Campaign for the Public’s Health along with Alliance for the Public’s Health are under her leadership as is APHA’s current work in support of public health through the legal system and courts. 

Polan has more than 30 years of experience in public health, government relations and associations at the Trust for America's Health, as an American Association for Advancement of Science Congressional Science and Technology Fellow, and professional staff member for the Senate HELP Committee. Polan also served as director of federal government relations at the American Cancer Society where she was the chief lobbyist and as president of Partnership for Prevention. 

Polan earned her Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She later earned an MA in psychology from San Diego State University and a doctorate in social ecology from the University of California, Irvine. She was recently honored as the alumni of the year by the John C. Wen School of Population and Public Health at the University of California, Irvine.