How to organize fields into 2 columns in a pageblocksection

The pageBlockSection component handles the ordering automatically as it is listed in the code. Each field is put into a cell until the number of defined columns is reached, which then starts the next row. The component also has it's own column attribute to define the number of columns to display (no need for grids). Something like below should get close to the desired output:

<apex:pageBlockSection title="Member Information" collapsible="false" columns="2">
    <apex:inputField value="{!Contact.Name}"/>
    <apex:outputField value="{!SelectedPolicy.Policy__r.Branch__c}" />
    <apex:outputField value="{!Contact.Birthdate}"/>
    <apex:outputField value="{!SelectedPolicy.Current_Effective_Date__c}"/>
    <apex:outputField value="{!Contact.Gender__c}" />
    <apex:outputField value="{!SelectedPolicy.VITA_End_Date__c}"/>
    <apex:outputField value="{!Contact.Active__c}"/>
    <apex:outputField value="{!SelectedPolicy.Policy__r.Account__r.Platform__c}"/>
    <apex:outputField value="{!SelectedPolicy.Policy__r.Reward_Status__c}"/>
    <apex:outputField label="Group" value="{!SelectedPolicy.Policy__r.Account__r.Name}" />
    <apex:outputField value="{!SelectedPolicy.Policy__r.Points_Status__c}"/>
    <apex:outputField value="{!SelectedPolicy.Role__c}"/>
</apex:pageBlockSection>

Reference: https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.pages.meta/pages/pages_compref_pageBlockSection.htm