Dr. Mancini received her BA in Bacteriology from Douglass College of Rutgers University and her PhD in Microbiology from Yale University. After post-doctoral training in Microbiology at UConn Medical School in Farmington, CT, she joined the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at Yale Medical School as a Research Associate. Subsequently, she served on the faculty of St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, and worked in the pharmaceutical industry before moving to the Boston area where she initially taught at Salem State College. Dr. Mancini has been on the faculty in the Department of Biology at Bridgewater State College since September 2001.

Dr. Mancini's research interests include parasitology, specifically the biochemistry of African trypanosomes, the causative agent of sleeping sickness, as well as public health microbiology and microbial pathogenesis. She currently teaches Microbiology for biology majors as well as the Microbial World & You and Principles of Biology both for nonmajors.

Dr. Mancini's leisure interests include music (both performance and support for music education), gardening, and the never-ending project of her old house.