Jeanne Rizzo, R.N., President and CEO
Jeanne Rizzo’s vision guided the Breast Cancer Fund to adopt its bold mission of working to prevent breast cancer by eliminating exposure to toxic chemicals and radiation linked to the disease. Under her direction the organization has become a national leader in translating the science linking breast cancer and environmental exposures into public education and advocacy campaigns that protect our health and reduce breast cancer risk.
Ms. Rizzo leads the organization’s strategic initiatives to remove the chemical bisphenol A, or BPA, from food packaging; to ensure cosmetics are non-toxic; and to overhaul the broken chemicals-management system that allows tens of thousands of toxic and untested chemicals to be used in consumer products. She also guides scientific initiatives, including the 2011 publication of a groundbreaking BPA dietary study. Recent legislative victories include the passage of a federal law banning toxic chemicals linked to breast cancer from toys, and California laws creating the first statewide biomonitoring program, advancing the safety of cosmetics and regulating chemicals in consumer products. Recent victories in the marketplace include a commitment from Campbell Soup Co. to remove BPA from its can linings and from Johnson & Johnson to globally reformulate its cosmetics products to remove harmful chemicals.
Ms. Rizzo is past chair of the California Breast Cancer Research Program Council and is a steering-committee member of the program’s Prevention Initiative. She is also an appointed member of the National Institutes of Health’s Interagency Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Coordinating Committee and an advisory board member of the National Institute of Environmental Health Science’s breast cancer “Sister Study.” She is a recipient of the Environmental Protection Agency Region 9 Green Chemistry Environmental Leader Award. A nurse, then an award-winning music, theater and film producer, she produced the documentary Climb Against the Odds: Mt. McKinley, which chronicles the Breast Cancer Fund's 1998 expedition.
