Delaware Researcher and Surgeon to Receive ACCC's 2014 Clinical Research Award

ROCKVILLE, Md. – Nicholas J. Petrelli, MD, FACS, will be presented with the Association of Community Cancer Centers’ 2014 Clinical Research Award in recognition of his ground-breaking leadership initiatives promoting and advocating for oncology clinical research. ACCC will present Dr. Petrelli with the award on Thursday, October 9, 2014, at the 31st National Oncology Conference, in San Diego Calif.

A nationally recognized expert on colorectal cancer, Dr. Petrelli is the Bank of America endowed medical director of Christiana Care’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute in Newark, Delaware. Dr. Petrelli has led the development of a state-of-the-art clinical oncology care program at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center. The center has served as a National Cancer Institute (NCI) Community Cancer Center Program (NCCCP) site and has achieved an impressive accrual rate of 24 percent in NCI-sponsored clinical trials. Most recently, in August 2014, the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute earned a five-year, $8.2 million grant from NCI’s Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) to bring leading-edge cancer screenings, prevention, control, treatment, and imaging research trials to more people in the places closest to where they live.

In addition, Dr. Petrelli spearheaded the development of a Tissue Procurement Center with over 4,000 specimens, catalogued through the NCI’s Cancer Bioinformatics Grid (caBIG/caTissue), which led to $4.6 million funding for participation in the Cancer Genome Atlas Project. He also developed the first Delaware statewide High Risk Family Cancer Registry, consisting of 2,500 families with more than 200,000 individuals.

Dr. Petrelli has been an active member of ACCC, serving on the Board of Trustees (2010-2012) and as Editorial Committee chair

Dr. Petrelli joined Christiana Care Health System as the Bank of America-endowed medical director of the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center in August 2001. Previously, he was chair of the department of surgical oncology and director of the surgical oncology fellowship training program at Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

He received his medical degree from Tulane Medical School in New Orleans, Louisiana. Following a general surgery residency in San Francisco, he completed a surgical oncology fellowship at Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

ACCC’s Clinical Research Award honors individuals whose research has positively impacted oncology patients, their families, and the community. Among the past winners of ACCC’s prestigious annual Clinical Research Award are David S. Alberts, MD; Charles M. Balch, MD, FACS; Al B. Benson III, MD, FACP; Donna Berry, PhD, RN, AOCN®, FAAN; David H. Johnson, MD; Lillian M. Nail, PhD, RN, FAAN; Daniel D. Von Hoff, MD, FACP; Saul Rivkin, MD; Henry Lynch, MD; and Vincent DeVita, Jr., MD.

More information about the ACCC National Oncology Conference is available here.