Pelli first went to northern Maine to serve in Ashland as a physician assistant in 1977. After five years, he left to enroll in UNE’s medical school with the intent to return. The town of Ashland and five surrounding communities paid Pelli’s medical school tuition costs under the condition he returned to Ashland to run the family practice.
But even after paying off the loan, Pelli wanted to stay in northern Maine. His family moved to nearby Presque Isle, where he ran a family practice and worked at the local hospital before retiring in 2021.
“I boil it down to the fact that I’m appreciated here,” said Pelli, a native of Rhode Island. “I’m appreciated as a physician, and as a person, as a citizen and resident. I belong here. My wife feels that she belongs here. There’s no money that can pay for that. It’s worth its weight in gold.”
Roger Pelli is the 2025 recipient of the Pioneer of Medicine Medal, a recognition of the extraordinary service to the Universtiy of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine.
For Roger Pelli, D.O. ’86, the iconic North Maine Woods and slower pace in northern Maine lured him and his wife, Lynn, and convinced them to raise their son and daughter there – despite the long winters. Pelli said his family loved snowmobiling, snowshoeing, camping, and fishing in the northern forestland. “I wanted to practice in a rural area where I made a difference,” Pelli said. “I wanted to be where I could truly be a physician. In the bigger cities, there are high-rise buildings full of doctor’s offices. I didn’t want any part of that.”
" I wanted to be where I could truly be a physician."
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