Piera M. Cirillo, MPH

Piera Cirillo received a B.A. degree in microbiology from Rutgers University in 1977. After graduating, she traveled to Nepal where she served in the Peace Corps, setting up basic diagnostic laboratories in village hospitals and training local laboratory technicians. After returning from the Peace Corp, she pursued her interest in molecular biology, working at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences attempting to isolate, purify and sequence the glucocorticoid hormone receptor. These combined experiences directed her to pursue a nascent but increasingly passionate interest in public health. She enrolled in the graduate public health program at San Diego State University and received her Master's degree in Epidemiology in 1989.

She started working at the Child Health and Development Studies (CHDS) in 1990. She is interested in helping her colleagues; Barbara Cohn, Barbara van den Berg and Bobbie Christianson, continue the priceless legacy of Dr. Yerushalmy, who began the study in 1958. She believes that the CHDS mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters have a remarkable story to tell. Their's is a story that may provide clues about what behavior and what exposures might be linked to cancer and other chronic illness. Their story may inform scientists about new treatments and new ways to prevent disease.

Piera Cirillo is currently examining a link between asthma during mother's pregnancy and the development of subsequent breast cancer. Surprisingly it appears that mothers who had asthma symptoms when they were pregnant may be protected from later breast cancer. More research is needed to determine why this association exists but it may lead to new insights about how immune mechanisms during pregnancy are involved in the development and progression of breast cancer.