CHDS Staff

Piera M. Cirillo, Research Scientist

Piera Cirillo received a bachelor's 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. When she returned from the Peace Corps, 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. Intrigued by the potential of combining a helping profession with a research interest she enrolled in the public health program at San Diego State University and graduated with a master's degree in epidemiology in 1989.

Ms. Cirillo started working at the Child Health and Development Studies (CHDS) in 1990. She is interested in continuing and contributing to the priceless legacy of Dr. Jacob Yerushalmy, who began the study in 1958. She recognizes that the enormous data archive of the CHDS holds opportunity for incredible discovery. She is particularly interested in learning how mother's puberty, fertility, pregnancy and pregnancy events interact with contributions from the father to affect long-term health of the mother, and growth and development of her infant and her infant's subsequent health.