[2] A native of Buffalo, New York, Pericak-Vance attended Wells College, graduating in 1973 with a bachelor's degree in biology.
[3] She went to earn her Ph.D. in 1978 from Indiana University School of Medicine: Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, where she studied under P. Michael Conneally.
[9] She was inducted into the Western New York Women's Hall of Fame (2002)[10] and received Wells College Distinguished Alumnae Award (2003)[11] She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2003.
[2] In 2014, she received the Ming Tsuang Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics.
Pericak-Vance is married to Jeffery M. Vance, whom she met when they were both students at Indiana University School of Medicine.