[3] Pierce spent her summers in Ahoskie, North Carolina where she was inspired to pursue a career in medicine from an African-American family doctor.
[2] While attending Philadelphia High School for Girls, she was named one of 394 winners in the 11th Annual National Achievement Scholarship Program for Outstanding Negro Students.
[6] During her residency, Pierce wrote a seminal paper on radiation and breast-conserving surgery in African American women compared with their white counterparts.
[5] Following her residency, Pierce accepted an assistant professor position at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, after which she served at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as a senior investigator in the radiation oncology branch from 1990 to 1992.
[10] In recognition of her efforts, Pierce was one of 11 physicians selected nationwide as a fellow of the American Society of Radiation Oncology[11] and became a Susan G. Komen for the Cure Scholar.
[15] During the COVID-19 pandemic, Pierce co-authored a study led by Reshma Jagsi focusing on medical racism which causes radiation side effects to be missed in young black patients.