Leslie Bernstein
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Leslie Bernstein (October 9, 1939 – July 28, 2022) was an American cancer epidemiologist and biostatistician. Known particularly for her research on breast cancer, in 1994 Bernstein led a ground-breaking study that found a correlation between moderate exercise and breast cancer risk reduction. Bernstein received many awards for her research, including from the American Association for Cancer Research, and was described as the "mother of cancer epidemiology" by City of Hope.
Bernstein was born on 9 October 1939 in Long Beach, California. During her youth, she was a nationally ranked swimmer. She graduated from Hughes Junior High in Long Beach and started her studies at the University of California, Los Angeles at the age of 16, earning an undergraduate degree in mathematics in 1959, having initially hoped to become a statistician.[1][2][3]
When she was 18, she married Saul Bernstein, a physical education student who had similar aspirations to work in medicine. Recognising they could not afford to pay two sets of tuition fees, Bernstein paused her studies to raise their children while her husband trained as a paediatric orthopaedic surgeon. During the Vietnam War, Bernstein's husband was drafted, and the family relocated to Kansas and subsequently Georgia, where he treated wounded soldiers. They later spent a period of time in the United Kingdom, where Bernstein's husband completed his medical fellowship.[2][3]
After a 17-year break, Bernstein resumed her studies at the age of 36 at the University of Southern California. She went on to obtain a master's degree in gerontology in 1978 and a PhD in biometry in 1981, at the age of 41.[1][4]
Bernstein was married until her husband's death in 2010, and they had three children together.[3] Bernstein died on July 28, 2022, at the age of 82.[2]
