CTS researcher Dr. Leslie Bernstein is among the most accomplished researchers working in cancer epidemiology today. Among her many research achievements; she was instrumental in identifying physical activity as means for reducing breast cancer risk. She is involved in a host of projects, including those based in the CTS, to unravel the links between hormone exposures, obesity, physical activity and cancer. She also is studying how breast cancer impacts the lives of women after they finish their treatments. She began her career in 1976 as the mother of 3 adolescents by enrolling in the University of Southern California (USC) graduate school in gerontology. After finishing her masters degree, she did her Ph.D. studies in biostatistics. By 1981, she had earned her Ph.D, and has since risen to her present leadership positions at USC as professor of preventive medicine and AFLAC Chair of Cancer Research, having just retired as senior associate dean for faculty affairs at the medical school.

Dr. Bernstein serves as an energetic and available role model and active mentor to female and junior scientists. She is co-directing USC’s center on Transdisciplinary Research on Energetics and Cancer (TREC), a new $54 million National Cancer Institute initiative to understand how increasing physical activity and reducing obesity can prevent cancer. As part of this she is leading a program for scientist training and career development. And she devotes many hours to CTS research projects and planning. The CTS is lucky to have such an accomplished leader in cancer research as part of its team!