Nicholas Santaniello knew he wanted to go into a career that was deeply rooted in human connection and caring for others because of the nature of his Italian American upbringing. The familial and social culture that his Italian American family embraced showed him the value of caring for one’s community. The son of Italian immigrants from Salerno and Naples, growing up in Brooklyn and Staten Island, his parents have modeled the type of physician Nicholas hopes to be – hard-working and dedicated, yet compassionate and willing to do what is right for his patients.

Nicholas, as a first-generation college student, feels that getting into college marks the most defining moment in his life. When he was accepted at Georgetown, he says he felt proud that his hard work and his family’s sacrifices had come to fruition. At Georgetown, Nicholas majored in Human Science in Georgetown’s School of Nursing and Health Studies. After graduating magnum cum laude from Georgetown, he was happy to return to New York City to attend medical school at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine in Brooklyn, where he graduated first in his class.

Nicholas is now living in Philadelphia and is a Pediatric Resident at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Reflecting on being a physician during a global pandemic, Nicholas said that day to day the hospital is a completely different environment, with less physical human contact and more barriers to providing care. He notes that the staff at his hospital are all working hard to overcome these barriers, and with proper protective equipment and innovative strategies like telemedicine they are doing their best to keep humanism in healthcare.

In the Santaniello family, there are three CCF Scholars – Nicholas, his brother, and his sister – all three able to get quality educational experiences because of the generosity of our CCF Members and supporters. Nicholas feels growing up surrounded by Italian Americans who understood the value of being part of a community that builds each other up was important to his development, and he is grateful for the opportunities that the CCF community has given to his family.