Maire Ede Percy
Professor Emeritus
Maire Ede (Robertson) Percy is a neurogeneticist and Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Physiology and of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, based at Surrey Place Centre, a University-affiliated centre for service, education, and research in developmental disabilities. She was born in Toronto, and educated at the University of Toronto (BSc 1962, MA 1964, PhD 1972); her prize-winning doctoral thesis was supervised by George Connell, who later became President of the University. She held postdoctoral fellowships at the Institute of Animal Physiology in Cambridge UK and the Hospital for Sick Children (HSC) in Toronto, then worked at HSC and Mount Sinai Hospital before joining Surrey Place Centre in 1989. She was promoted to Full Professor in 1999, and to Professor Emeritus in 2005.
She is known internationally for her research on risk factors in human diseases, most recently Alzheimer's Disease and other developmental disabilities. She is the author of over 250 research papers, book chapters, and other articles, reports, and presentation abstracts. With Ivan Brown, she co-edited three editions (1999, 2003, 2011) of the textbook Developmental Disabilities in Ontario, and also A Comprehensive Guide to Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (Brookes, 2007). This book grew out of her graduate course "The Neuroscience of Developmental Disabilities". For many years, she has been an editor of the Journal on Developmental Disabilities. She co-founded the Fragile X Research Foundation of Canada, and the Research Special Interest Group of the Ontario Association on Developmental Disabilities (OADD). She is a particularly effective mentor of research students, including outstanding senior high school students in the University of Toronto Mentorship Program. Her awards include the 2004 Research Excellence Award, and the 2011 Award of Excellence of the OADD (Ontario Association on Developmental Disabilities), and the 2012 June Callwood Award of Surrey Place Centre. The asteroid mairepercy is named in honour of her work.
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