News Story

July 24, 2025

A Call to Service Inspires Alumna’s Gift to La Roche

Cynthia Piccirilli ’79, M.D., a retired captain of the U.S. Navy and former head of neurosurgery at the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, has made a transformative gift to the La Roche University Excellence Fund.

This donation will offer unrestricted funds to support the University’s top priorities, enhancing academics, facilities, and the student experience.

“Philanthropy of this kind empowers La Roche to grow in ways that directly benefit our students and community,” said University President Christina A. Clark, Ph.D. “We are extremely grateful for Dr. Piccirilli’s generosity and commitment.”

For Dr. Piccirilli, the decision to give was grounded in shared values and a belief in the University’s mission.

“I want to be part of the ongoing success story that is La Roche,” she explained. “La Roche is very intentional in preparing students to engage the world from a firm anchor in justice, service, peace, and global awareness. This is an education students carry with them throughout their lives.”

The Start of a Journey

Dr. Piccirilli’s own success story at La Roche began in 1977, when she transferred to La Roche and entered religious life with the Sisters of Divine Providence, the University’s founding congregation.

“I was drawn to the Sisters because of their charism, which is expressed in La Roche’s mission,” she said. “I was definitely drawn to the small size of the college and the warm welcome that I received.”

As a biology major, Dr. Piccirilli benefited from supportive professors—both lay and religious—and the unique opportunity to study scripture alongside science. “All of this enhanced my life and my career in medicine,” she said.

Encouraged by Professor Sister Kathleen Angel, CDP, she completed a senior honors project, now archived in the Wright Library. Graduating summa cum laude with an honors distinction would later strengthen her application to medical school.

Following Her Call

After graduating from La Roche in 1979, Dr. Piccirilli spent the next three years training in religious life and teaching math and science courses at Divine Providence Academy. During that time, she realized that classroom education was not her true calling.

She made the difficult decision to leave religious life with just $500 and the conviction that her path was changing. “It took courage as a young woman to do this,” she explained.

Eventually, Dr. Piccirilli joined the United States Navy, a decision she said provided an affordable route to medical school and the opportunity to “be part of something bigger” than herself.

After earning a Doctor of Medicine from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, she completed residency training in neurosurgery at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. The first woman to complete training in a military neurosurgery program, she later held several roles—including head of neurosurgery—at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth.

“Medicine is such a privileged place to be,” she said. “You get to touch people’s lives at some of their most vulnerable times. Medicine perfectly married my love of science and my desire to serve.”

A New Chapter

After dedicating over 31 years to her military career, Dr. Piccirilli made a deeply personal decision to retire in 2016. She stepped away from medicine to care full time for her mother and spouse, both living with dementia, again putting love and responsibility at the center of this new chapter in her life.

Retirement has brought moments of reflection. She recalled her upbringing among six siblings in the small city of Altoona, Pennsylvania. “I was raised by parents who set high standards and were examples of love in action,” she said.  

From her early days at La Roche to military duty, a career in medicine, and now retirement, every chapter has driven Dr. Piccirilli to serve with intention. 

“Throughout my life, I’ve been extraordinarily blessed,” she said. “I’m even more inspired to live justly, serve where I am called, and live a life of love. What that looks like continues to evolve. How can I share this wealth?”

Inspiring Alumni to Join

Dr. Piccirilli urges fellow alumni to consider how they, too, can turn their success into opportunity for future generations.

“I hope that other alumni will consider what they have been able to achieve in their lives because of their education,” she said. “My education opened so many doors, and the La Roche family really facilitated that for me.”