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The annual Tilton Award gala, which honors medical achievement in the state of Delaware, will take place on Friday, Oct. 4 from 6–9 p.m. in the ballroom of the Tilton Mansion, home to The University and Whist Club. The 2019 Tilton Award recipient is Dr. Nicholas J. Petrelli, M.D., FACS, medical director of the Helen Graham Cancer Center and Research Institute. Petrelli is recognized both nationally and internationally as an expert on colorectal cancer. Good Housekeeping and American Health magazines listed him among the best doctors in the nation and as one of the top 100 cancer physicians in the U.S. In 1982, Petrelli completed an International Union Against Cancer Fellowship in Milan, Italy sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. He joined the Christiania Care Health System as the Bank of America endowed medical director in August, 2001. He oversees the state’s largest and most technologically advanced cancer program. Petrelli came to Christiana Care from Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York, one of the nations’ leading NCI Designated Cancer Centers. He was president of the Society of Surgical Oncology from 2007-2008 and, in 2003, he received the Order of the First State Award from Gov. Jack Markell for his “dedication to excellence for serving the community.” The Tilton Award is named after Dr. James Tilton, a revolutionary war surgeon, founder and first president of the Medical Society of Delaware in 1789. Petrelli graduated from the University of Notre Dame and earned his medical degree at Tulane University Medical School in New Orleans. Petrelli was a fellow in Surgical Oncology at Roswell Park in Buffalo, New York where he eventually joined the staff. Previous recipients of the Tilton Award include Dr. Stephen Permut, M.D, J.D., who is presently a professor of Family and Community Medicine at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University and Dr. G. Dean MacEwen, an endowed chair for the Department of Orthopedics of Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children. Nominees are vetted and selected by a panel comprised of board members from the Medical Society of Delaware, the Tilton Mansion Preservation Society and the University and Whist Club. Each year, the Tilton Award recipient receives a bronze bust of Tilton, commissioned to local sculptress Olga Nielsen in 2016. The Medical Society of Delaware has partnered with the Tilton Mansion Preservation Society for the third year in a row, with this year’s sponsors including Brown & Brown Private Client Insurance. The gala includes remarks from Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long and president-elect for the Medical Society of Delaware Dr. Andrew Dahlke, M.D., music from Second Opinion Jazz Duo, hors d’oeuvres and a three-course gourmet dinner. Individual tickets are $120 per person, a company table of 10 is $1,000 and available either online at Eventbrite at bit.ly/TiltonAwardGala19 or by calling (302) 658-5125.