Cheryl Osimo
Cheryl Osimo has been a devoted breast cancer activist and advocate since 1991 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 41. After her diagnosis, Cheryl joined the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition (MBCC), serving on its Board of Directors before becoming Executive Director in 2003. Through her work with MBCC, Cheryl develops and leads community outreach and education programs that engage the public, students, families, and environmental justice communities. She is a strong advocate for changes to public policy that aim to protect the health of Massachusetts citizens, and she also serves as the organizer of MBCC’s signature fundraising events, which sustain the organization’s mission and programs.
Cheryl is one of the founders of Silent Spring Institute and is also the Institute’s Cape Cod Coordinator. As Cape Cod Coordinator, she organizes Silent Spring Institute’s education and outreach efforts, including conducting information sessions for Cape residents and organizations, convening public advisory committee meetings and other public forums, serving as liaison to media and local officials, and coordinating programs and activities that support the Institute’s research agenda.
She has been a catalyst in raising public awareness of the possible environmental links to breast cancer on Cape Cod and a strong advocate for the Cape Cod Breast Cancer and Environment Study. Her commitment to this study is a result of her belief that the findings will benefit women not only on the Cape, but worldwide.
Cheryl conducts extensive speaking engagements and media interviews statewide and throughout the country. She is a regular speaker at community meetings, colleges, and universities nationally. She was an invited guest speaker at the World Conference on Breast Cancer in Ontario, Canada, addressing breast cancer activism. She has served on the Cape Cod Hospital’s Multidisciplinary Quality Improvement Breast Cancer Team and was appointed to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Breast Cancer Advisory Committee. She was appointed to a two-year term on the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women, an independent state agency to advance women’s equality statewide.
Cheryl participated as a member of the Breast Cancer Environmental Research Program (BCERP) Key Message Dissemination Expert Panel whose responsibilities included reviewing BCERP literature. She has led MBCC as a community partner on Silent Spring’s three national PFAS projects: STEEP (Sources, Transport, Exposure, and Effects of PFASs) Superfund Research Center, PFAS-REACH (Research, Education, and Action for Community Health), and the multi-state PFAS Health Study funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).
Cheryl is the recipient of numerous awards, honors and citations for her leadership and volunteerism from organizations such as the AARP, as well as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Senate and House of Representatives; the most recent citation was presented by Senator Susan Moran. Cheryl was named Woman of the Year by the Massachusetts Federation of Business and Professional Women, and she was one of 20 individuals featured in the Cape Cod Times as a “Local Hero Living on the Cape.” Cheryl was awarded Boston University’s Arthur H. Wilde Award for Distinguished Service to Community. She was also awarded the “Call to Action” Citizen’s Activist Award from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts House of Representatives. Cheryl has also been recognized nationally by the Department of Defense, US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, serving as Consumer Reviewer and as a Reviewer, Presenter, and Mentor for a first-time reviewer. The National Women’s Health Network (NWHN) honored her work to improve women’s health. As recently as 2024, Cheryl was honored by the Golden Family with the Distinguished Service Award at the 3rd Annual Margo Simon Golden Memorial Webinar.
In addition to being a full-time breast cancer activist, mother, grandmother, Executive Director of MBCC and co-founder and Cape Cod Coordinator of Silent Spring, Cheryl is an active contributor to her community. Cheryl can be reached via email at: cosimo@mbcc.org.
