Mary Lake Polan

Mary Lake Polan (born 1943) is an American

Having a varied education at several institutions growing up, along with multiple trips abroad to Europe to study, Polan eventually began doing research and teaching at Yale and Stanford. She would continue doing international trips to both learn about and spread knowledge of reproductive medicine to other countries, including Iran, China, and Eritrea. In 1988, she published a popular science mystery novel that went into detail on how in-vitro fertilization is practiced, giving insights that lessened public fears about the new technologies involved.

A member of multiple professional societies and organizations, she was also made a member of multiple governmental committees and organization boards involved in women's medicine and health. She was named a "Giant in Obstetrics and Gynecology" by the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2022 for her work.

Childhood and education

Early years

Born in 1943

Later in her life, she wanted to branch out into other areas of women's health, so she enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley to get a public health degree as a part of the university's Maternal and Child Health Program. She completed the degree in 2001.^[1]

Career

Yale professorship

After completing her residency and fellowship, Polan became an

Throughout her work as a professor, Polan also became an author of both fictional stories and non-fictional personal biographies. She was inspired to try writing after seeing the medicine focused works of Robin Cook and wanted to do something similar, but for her field of reproductive endocrinology.^[5] Mystery novels and shows were also a favored pastime, with Murder, She Wrote being her favorite television series, thus she chose to combine her desire of medicine in fiction with a mystery setting.^[6]

She published Second Seed in 1988, basing the story around ideas she had while teaching in

Polan then began writing in 2002 the pieces that would become A Doctor’s Journey: What I Learned about Women, Healing and Myself in Eritrea. Based around the time period she spent on the women's project in Eritrea, it focuses on the experiences and stories of the doctors and nurses in the country and the relationship they formed with the American doctors involved in the project.[2]

Research

The research focus of Polan's work has primarily been on reproductive endocrinology and infertility, with her later career also investigating the genetic causes of

During her senior year at Connecticut College, Polan received an excellence in chemistry award from the local branch of the American Chemical Society after her presentation at a science conference at Trinity College.^[10] Given the Connecticut College Medal in 1992, she was recognized by the college as someone whose efforts has helped improve the recognition of the organization, due to her years of serving as an emeritus trustee. She was also chosen by the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology as a "Giant in Obstetrics and Gynecology" and a member of their journal series on such individuals.^[11]

Personal life

Polan married professor of

• —;
  ISBN 9780815123750
  .
• — (1987). Second Seed: A Novel.
  ISBN 9780684187358.^[13]
• —; Henzl, Milan R., eds. (1993). The Clinical Use of GnRH Superactive Analogues.
  W. B. Saunders
  . p. 219.
• —; Henzl, Milan R.; Hornstein, Mark D. (1998). The Second Decade of GnRH Agonists: In Vitro Fertilization and Endometriosis: a Symposium. Journal of Reproductive Medicine Incorporated. p. 92.
• — (October 27, 2016). A Doctor's Journey: What I Learned About Women, Healing, and Myself in Eritrea.
  ISBN 9781940838861
  .
• —; Chin, Toyna; Garrett, Holly (July 10, 2018). The Big P: A Younger Girl's Journey Through Puberty. Toyna Chin. p. 44.
  ISBN 9780692155202
  .