Page 12 - Delaware Medical Journal - July/August 2019

Nicholas J. Petrelli, MD, FACS:
Fighting the Good Fight, One Cell at a Time
Mary S. Fenimore
Nicholas J. Petrelli, MD, FACS is not just any typical physician. In fact, there is nothing
typical about one of Delaware’s most acclaimed cancer specialists and Director of the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute, part of the Christiana Care Health System.
The moment you meet Dr. Petrelli, you are struck by his directness, his “ready to spring into action” demeanor. It is clear this is a man with high expectations and a man who is not going to take no for an answer. His appearance is meticulous. He sports a perfectly groomed haircut,
a pressed dress shirt complete with His direct eye contact and genuine but
and he’s paying attention. He is a man who clearly expects the highest-quality work out of everyone around him and, by all accounts, this is exactly what he gets.
Petrelli was born in New York City in 1947. The son of a Manhattan solo- practice dentist and a homemaker mother, he grew up with two sisters in a loving and patriotic home. His father was a World War II Army veteran who served in
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Del Med J | July/August 2019 | Vol. 91 | No. 4