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.

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. Carroll RS, Black PM, Zhang J, Kirsch M, Percec I, Lau N, Guha A: Expression and Activation of epidermal growth factor receptors in meningiomas. Journal of Neurosurgery 87(2): 315-323, Aug. 1997.
2. Plenge RM, Percec I, Nadeau JH, Willard HF: Expression-based assay of an X-linked gene to examine effects of the X-controlling element Xce) locus Mammalian Genome 11(5): 405-408, May 2000.
3. Percec I, Bartolomei MS: Do X Chromosomes Set Boundaries? Science 295(5553): 287-288, Jan. 11 2002.
4. Percec I, Plenge RM, Nadeau JH, Bartolomei MS, Willard HF: Autosomal Dominant Mutations Affecting X Inactivation Choice in the Mouse. Science 296(5570): 1136-1139, May 10 2002.
5. 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(4): 1481-1494, Aug. 2003.
6. Percec I, Bucky LP: Successful prosthetic breast reconstruction after radiation therapy. Annals of Plastic Surgery 60(5): 527-531, May 2008.
7. Stransky CA, Hsu V, Dierov R, Hoover WJ, Donahue G, Bucky LP, Percec I: Beyond fat grafting: What adipose tissue can teach us about the molecular mechanisms of human aging. Annals of Plastic Surgery Sept. 2012.
8. Hsu V, Stransky CA, Bucky LP, Percec I: Fat grafting: Past, present, and future- why adipose tissue is emerging as a critical link to the advancement of regenerative medicine. 32 (7): 892-9, 2012. Aesthetic Surgery Journal 32(7): 892-9, 2012.
9. Imadojemu, S, Sarwer, DB, Percec, I, Sonnad, SS, Goldsack, JE, Berman, M, Sobanko, JF: Influence of surgical and minimally invasive facial cosmetic procedures on psychosocial outcomes: a systematic review. JAMA Dermatology 149(11), Nov 2013.
10. Devitt, SM, Carter, CM, Dierov, R, Weiss, S, Gersch, RP, Percec, I: The Effects of Cryopreservation of Isolation and Growth of Human Adipose Derived Stem Cells. Submitted 2014.
11. Hsu, VM, Percec, I: Quantified Facial Soft Tissue Strain in Animation Measured by Real-Time Dynamic Three-Dimensional Imaging. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery GO 2014 Notes: In press.
12. Wilson, AJ, Chin, BC, Hsu, VM, Percec, I: Digital Image Correlation (DIC): A Novel Dynamic 3-D Imaging Technique for Precise Quantification of the Dynamic Rhytid and Botulinum Toxin Type A (BoNTA) Efficacy. Submitted 2014.

1. Bucky LP, Percec I.: The science of autologous fat grafting: Views on current and future approaches to neoadipogenesis Aesthetic Surgery Journal 28(3): 312-321, May/June 2008.

1. Bucky, LP, Percec I, Del Vecchio, D: Fat grafting in plastic surgery. Grabb and Smith's Plastic Surgery, 7th Edition. Grabb WC, Aston SJ, Smith JW (eds.). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 2013.
2. Low DW, Percec I: Lasers in plastic surgery. Grabb and Smith's Plastic Surgery, 7th Edition. Grabb WC, Aston SJ, Smith JW (eds.). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 2013.
3. Percec I, Reid R, Bartlett S: Cranialfacial Distraction of the Maxilla. Handbook of Craniomaxillofacial Surgery James E. Zins, MD, FRCS and Chad R. Gordon, DO (eds.). World Scientific Publishing Co. Ptd. Ltd. 2014.
4. Percec I, Reid R, Bartlett S: Distraction of the craniofacial skeleton: Experience at the University of Pennsylvania. Distraction Osteogenesis of the Craniomaxillofacial Skeleton. The Peoples' Hygiene Publisher, Beijing, China, 2014 Notes: in press.