Ivona Percec completed undergraduate work at Princeton University in 1995. She received an A.B. degree in Molecular Biology with a minor in Medieval Studies, writing senior theses in both disciplines. She was awarded the Joseph Strayer Prize for Best Medieval Studies Thesis for her discussion on medicine in fourteenth-century France. She conducted undergraduate research in genomic imprinting with Shirley Tilghman, and subsequently pursued her research interests in the molecular genetics of brain tumors with Peter Black at Harvard University.

In 1996 Ivona entered the M.D./Ph.D. tract at Case Western Reserve University and began dissertation work in genetics with Hunt Willard. She transferred to the M.D./Ph.D. Program at the University of Pennsylvania in 1999 after starting a research collaboration between the two schools. Ivona Percec completed three years of the M.D./Ph.D. tract at Case Western Reserve University where she was awarded a Genetics NIH Training Grant. At the University of Pennsylvania, she worked with Marisa Bartolomei and was awarded a Radiation Oncology NIH Training Grant.

In 2002 Ivona was awarded both the John Clark and the Saul Winegrad awards for her dissertation work on X chromosome inactivation that was published in Science. She has given platform presentations at six international meetings, and was a Student Award Finalist at the 2001 American Society for Human Genetics Annual Meeting. She received her Ph.D. from the Cellular and Developmental Biology Department at the University of Pennsylvania in 2002. During the clinical years she was an editorial assistant for Emedicine Online. Ivona was elected to Senior Alpha Omega Alpha and the Outstanding Student Honor Societies in 2004. She was awarded the American Medical Womens Association Glasgow-Rubin Achievement Citation and the Merck Manual Award during the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Commencement where she also delivered the student address.

• Alpha Omega Alpha
• Outstanding Student Honor Society
• American Society for Human Genetics
• American College of Surgeons
• National Merit Society

2010 - Present – Establishment of the soft tissue aging laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania. Examination of the genetic and epigenetic changes that occur with aging of subcutaneous adipose tissue deposits. Principal Investigator, Ivona Percec M.D. Ph.D.

2008 - 2010 – Examination of FGFR2 genotype and phenotype correlations in patients with Apert, Crouzon and Pfeiffer syndromes. In collaboration with Scott Bartlett M.D., Division of Plastic Surgery, University of Pennsylvania.

2004 - 2008 – Examination of the effects of radiation therapy on patients undergoing prosthetic breast reconstruction. Investigation of the differential effect of fat grafting techniques on adipose tissue viability in autogenous fat grafting. In collaboration with Louis Bucky M.D., Division of Plastic Surgery, University of Pennsylvania.

1999 - 2002 – Identification and characterization of dominant mutations of the X chromosome inactivation pathway in the mouse. Laboratory of Marisa Bartolomei PhD, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

1999 - 2002 - Identification and characterization of dominant mutations of the X chromosome inactivation pathway in the mouse. Laboratory of Marisa Bartolomei PhD, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

1998 - 1999 – Mouse mutagenesis screen for ENU-induced dominant mutations causing skewed X chromosome inactivation. Laboratory of Hunt Willard PhD, Chairman of Department of Genetics and Director of Center for Human Genetics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

1997 (Summer) – Construction of cDNA microarrays to examine gene expression in homocysteine metabolism. Laboratory of Joseph Nadeau PhD, Department of Genetics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

1997 (Spring) – Molecular characterization of marker chromosomes in Turner Syndrome patients with severe phenotypes. Laboratory of Hunt Willard PhD, Chairman of Department of Genetics and Director of Center for Human Genetics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

1995 - 1996 – Genetic and molecular characterization of human brain tumors. Laboratory of Peter Black MD, PhD, Neurosurgeon in Chief, Department of Neurosurgery, Children’s Hospital, Brigham and Womens Hospital and Harvard University School of Medicine

1994 - 1995 – Allelic inactivation of Pax-3 gene in mouse embryos. Laboratory of Shirley Tilghman PhD, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University.

1993 (Summer) – Structural analysis of synthetic proteins. Laboratory of David Tirrell PhD, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

1992 (Summer) – Biomolecular computer modeling of self-assembling macromolecules. Laboratory of John Blackwell PhD, Department of Macromolecular Science, Case Western Reserve University.

1. Percec, I., Bucky, LP. Successful prosthetic breast reconstruction after radiation therapy. Annals of Plastic Surgery. 60 (5):527-31, May
   2008.
2. Percec, I., Bucky, LP. The Science of Autologous Fat Grafting: Views on
   Current and Future Approaches to Neoadipogenesis. Aesthetic
   Surgery Journal. 313-321, May-June 2008.
3. Percec, I, Thorvaldsen, JL, Plenge, RM, Krapp, CJ, Nadeau, JH, Willard,
   HF, Bartolomei, MS. An ENU Mutagenesis Screen for Epigenetic
   Mutations in the Mouse. Genetics. 164, 1481-1494, 2003.
4. Percec, I, Plenge, RM, Nadeau, JH, Bartolomei, MS, Willard, HF.
   Autosomal Dominant Mutations Affecting X Inactivation Choice
   in the Mouse. Science. 296, 1136-1139, 2002.
5. Percec, I, Bartolomei, MS. Do X Chromosomes Set Boundaries? Science.
   295, 287-288, 2002.
6. Plenge, RP, Percec, I, Nadeau, JH, Willard HF. Expression-based assay of
   an X-linked gene to examine effects of the X-controlling element
   (Xce) locus. Mamm. Genome. 11, 405-408, 2000.
7. Carroll, RS, Black, PM, Zhang, J, Kirsch, M, Percec, I, Lau, N, Guha, A.
   Expression and Activation of epidermal growth factor receptors in
   meningiomas. J Neurosurg. 87, 315-323, 1997.

1. Percec, I, Reid, R, Bartlett, S. “Distraction of the Craniofacial Skeleton:
   Experience at the University of Pennsylvania” in Distraction
   Osteogenesis of the Craniomaxillofacial Skeleton, The People’s
   Hygiene Publisher, Beijing, China. In Press.
2. Percec, I, Reid, R, Bartlett, S. “Distraction Osteogenesis of the Midface”
   in Handbook of Craniofacial Surgery. In Press.