In honor of Women’s History Month, Professor Donna Gerstle of CSI’s Center for Environmental Science and other women in environmentalism will be honored by New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn and Councilwoman Darlene Mealy, Chair of the Women’s Issues Committee.

Gerstle is the director of the CSI Center for Environmental Science; the Director of the CSI Staten Island Breast Cancer Research Initiative (SIBCRI), which recently received $80,000 in crucial funding from the New York City Council; and a Commissioner of the Interstate Environmental Commission.

As the incidence of breast cancer is inordinately high on Staten Island, Gerstle says that the SIBCRI is tackling breast cancer on three fronts: “The first is an epidemiological study, which is a case-control study that looks at individuals on Staten Island from 1980 to 2006 and it will compare their lifestyles and risk factors to a control set of individuals.

“The second is to evaluate how environmental factors actually influence breast tissue development and we will be exposing mammary tissue to a set of known environmental carcinogens that exist in the Staten Island air. Finally, we are going to be doing for the community a prevention educational program that will work with health care providers, community-based organizations, elected officials, and schools.”

Helen Sears, Former Chair of the Women’s Issue Committee, will also receive special recognition at the event.

The event is presented by the City Council Women’s Issues Committee and the City Council Women’s Caucus on Thursday, March 26 at The New Victory Theater, 209 West 42nd Street in Manhattan at 6:30pm.

For more information and to RSVP, call 212.788.6687 or email events@council.nyc.gov.

(l to r) CSI President Tomás Morales, Prof. Donna Gerstle, and Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn