Dr. Peterka received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Interdepartmental Studies from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota with minors in philosophy, history, mathematics, physics, and abnormal psychology graduating Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1958. In his senior year in medical school he studied dermatology under Doctors Francis Lynch, Henry Michelson, and Robert Goltz. He earned his M.D. degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis in 1961.
In 1962 he interned at Ancker General Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota and in 1963 began his dermatology residency in the Department of Dermatology University of Minnesota Hospitals. During his residency he studied porphyrin abnormalities with Dr. Cecil Watson and did studies on red blood cell hemolysis and pathology of the skin in erythropoetic protoporphyria and sun sensitivity. He studied sun sensitivity in American Indians at the Indian Reservation in Red Lake, Minnesota. He received a Master of Science Degree from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota writing his thesis on Cutaneous Carbohydrate Studies. He was involved with skin testing of prisoners at the Minnesota State Prison, Stillwater, Minnesota for Minnesota Mining and Manufacturint (3M) testing their various types of tapes for skin sensitivity. He worked as an assistant professor in the Division ofDermatology at theUniversity of Colorado Medical School from 1965 to 1968 teaching medical residents in dermatology and pediatrics.
In 1968 he moved to Galesburg, Illinois to practice dermatology. He joined the Dermatology Department as clinical associate professor at the Abraham Lincoln School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois teaching medical students and residents. In 1968 he became the first head of the Department of Dermatology at Peoria School of Medicine, Peoria, Illinois and gave weekly lectures to the medical staff and residents in family practice at Methodist Hospital, Peoria, Illinois.
Dr. Peterka enjoys fishing, writing, and inventing. He is an officer of Rotary International and is a Past Grand Knight in the Knights of Columbus. He is a charter member of the Spoon River Mental Health Association and a charter member of the Illinois Dermatological Society. His interests are books and literature on Abraham Lincoln and he has written a paper on the skin lesions of Abraham Lincoln. He enjoys and collects stories and jokes and has written a joke book “Laughter Is the Best Medicine or the Surly Bird Gets the Germ”. He has been President of Knox County Medical Society and a delegate to the Illinois State Medical Society.
He married his wife Jean when a junior in medical school, and aiter 45 years of marriage, they have five children and six grandchildren.
