Doreen Puglisi, M.S., is an exercise physiologist and educator who transformed her professional — then personal — experience with cancer into a successful rehabilitation program for breast cancer survivors. In just six years, the nonprofit organization she established has trained and certified more than 400 instructors in the United States, Australia and Europe to help women recover their mobility, strength, and range of motion following breast cancer surgery.
The Pink Ribbon Program originated when Doreen began working with breast cancer survivors as a Pilates Instructor and Exercise Physiologist. She was stunned to discover that survivors were discharged following mastectomy, lymph node dissections and even reconstructive surgeries without a plan for either physical therapy or rehabilitation of the affected side. With her energy, drive and knowledge of exercise physiology, Doreen she set out to develop a program to help her clients achieve their best possible recovery.
The Pink Ribbon Program was well underway when Doreen faced her own cancer diagnosis when an early cancer was discovered following breast reduction surgery. Even with her level of fitness and understanding of breast cancer, she was overwhelmed by the both the diagnosis and recovery. She applied the Pink Ribbon protocol to her own recovery, and continued to tweak the exercises and stages based on her experience. Today the Pink Ribbon Program is a gentle, staged process that begins when the survivor is either six weeks past her surgery or has received her doctor’s approval to begin gentle exercise.
Chairperson of the Health Education & Exercise Science Department at Morris County College in Randolph, New Jersey, Doreen travels extensively. She speaks frequently about the need for post-operative rehabilitation and trains health professionals as certified Pink Ribbon Program instructors. In 2008 she helped conduct a national breast cancer awareness campaign in Australia at the invitation of The National Breast Cancer Foundation and the Coca-Cola Corporation. She holds a Master’s degree in Exercise Science from Montclair State University.
