Dr. Christine Petti completed her undergraduate education at Saint Mary’s College of Notre Dame—majoring in biology, minoring in chemistry, and graduating summa cum laude. Next, she was accepted into the Pharmacology PhD program at Georgetown University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She received both a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant and a stipend to support her education. After two years of study at Georgetown, Dr. Petti felt confident that she could and should pursue a career in medicine and decided to attend medical school at the Medical College of Pennsylvania, now Drexel University College of Medicine. She received her Doctor of Medicine degree in 1981. She chose to remain at the Medical College of Pennsylvania, Drexel School of Medicine, for a five-year general surgery residency, which she completed in 1986 with the honor of “Best Surgical Resident.” Inspired by an independent plastic surgery rotation at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and a specialized breast oncology rotation at the University of California, San Diego, Dr. Petti directed her career toward the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery. She completed her plastic surgery residency at the prestigious University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine in 1988, training under world-renowned Professor, Chief of the Section of Plastic Surgery, Chief of the Department of Surgery, and Dean of the School of Medicine Thomas J. Krizek, MD, FACS.