Dr. Petrella is the new Beryl and Richard Ivey Research Chair in Aging, Rehabilitation, and Geriatric Care (ARGC) at the University of Western Ontario, as well as, Program Leader for ARGC at the Lawson Health Research Institute.  He is Medical Director of the Canadian Centre for Activity and Aging, Past President of the Canadian Coaltion for High Blood Pressure Prevention and Control.  Dr. Petrella holds a CIHR Chair in "Healthy Lifestyles: Healthy Aging" and is a Clinical Specialist in Hypertension with the American Society of Hypertension.  He is a Professor in the Departments of Family Medicine, Medicine (Divison of Cardiology), as well as, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation of the Schulich School of Medicine, and School of Medicine, and School of Kinesiology at the University of Western Ontario.

Dr. Petrella's research interests include laboratory and community-based study of the determinants of lifestyle intervention in cardiovascular disease prevention, management and control.  He holds research funding from various agencies including the CIHR, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, NSERC, Health Canada's Population Health Fund and the Canadian Diabetes Association, and has over 100 original publications in peer-reviewed journals.  Dr Petrella is an internal committee member for CIHR Rx &D, and Steering Committee member for Heart and Stroke Foundation's AIM program and the Canadian Hypertension Education Program (CHEP).  He was Principal Investigator for the SNAC (Staged Nutrition and Activity Counseling Trial), which is a fully accredited educational activity of the College of Family Physicians of Canada.  Dr Petrella has been active as a co-investigator in many hypertension outcomes trials as well as involved in many national and international committees including consensus conferences in hypertension, diabetes, osteoarthritis and physical activity including the launch of Canada's Guide for Physical Activity.