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.
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.
[2] After receiving her PhD in 1981, Bernstein worked as a researcher and professor at the Keck School of Medicine of USC for 25 years, before officially retiring in 2007.
Her additional support of the NBCC included joining them in testifying before Congress, and taking part in work to dispel myths around abortion being a cause of breast cancer.
[4] Bernstein also received recognition for her prominence as a woman in science, as well as for her commitment to mentoring female students, researchers, and faculty members throughout her career.