Jeanne Rizzo, R.N., President and CEO
Jeanne Rizzo’s vision guided the Breast Cancer Fund to adopt its bold breast cancer prevention mission: to identify and advocate for the elimination of the environmental and other preventable causes of the disease. Under her leadership the organization has become a national leader in translating the growing body of scientific evidence linking breast cancer and environmental exposures into strategic policy initiatives.
The scientific evidence is presented in landmark science reports, State of the Evidence: The Connection between Breast Cancer and the Environment (in its fifth edition; also published in the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health), and The Falling Age of Puberty in U.S. Girls: What We Know, What We Need to Know, by Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D.
Ms. Rizzo guides current strategic policy initiatives to reduce our exposure to bisphenol A, to address the safety of personal care products and to reform the broken Toxic Substances Control Act. Recent victories include the passage of federal legislation banning toxic chemicals linked to breast cancer from children’s toys, and California laws that created the first statewide biomonitoring program, advanced the safety of cosmetic products and initiated a groundbreaking “green chemistry” initiative in the state.
Ms. Rizzo is a founding partner of the Collaborative on Health and the Environment and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. She serves on the Council of the California Breast Cancer Research Program and is an appointed member of the National Institute of Health Interagency Breast Cancer and Environment Research Coordinating Committee. A nurse, then an award-winning music, theater and film producer, she produced the documentary Climb Against the Odds: Mt. McKinley.
