Distinguished Alumnus
Kevin Petti, Ph.D. earned a masters degree in Exercise Physiology from SDSU in 1989. Dr. Petti teaches anatomy and physiology, human dissection, and health science at San Diego Miramar College, where he is a full professor. He is also a dual U.S./Italian citizen, anatomy and physiology textbook coauthor, and president-emeritus of the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society.
Dr. Petti also leads an SDSU Study Abroad program to Italy that is geared for ENS students. This course explores the history of anatomy in the medical curriculum, and its connection to art by traveling to Italy where anatomy, as a science, began. Students visit anatomy museums in Europe’s oldest universities, see historic dissection theaters and centuries-old anatomic wax sculptures. Since 2015, over 300 SDSU students have traveled to Italy with Dr. Petti.
Dr. Petti is invited to speak about the connection between art and anatomy in Greco-Roman, Medieval, and Renaissance Italy at international conferences, museums, and universities throughout North America and Europe. The Italian government has invited him to speak at their Cultural Institutes in Los Angeles, New York City, and Houston; and The University of Palermo, Sicily, hosted Dr. Petti for a week as a guest lecturer in their seminar series celebrating its 210th anniversary. Dr. Petti also served as Senior Scientific Consultant and General Coordinator for North America for the 2017 International Congress on Anatomical Wax Modeling in London. In 2019, Dr. Petti spoke at the Italian Embassy in Washington, D.C. The Chinese Central Television (CCTV) featured Dr. Petti in their 8-part documentary 200 Years of Surgery.
