Irene Ayako Uchida

Irene Ayako Uchida was a Canadian geneticist and scientist who pioneered the field of cytogenetics in Canada, enabling early screening for chromosomal abnormalities (i.e., changes in chromosomes caused by genetic mutations). She discovered that women who receive X-rays during pregnancy have a higher chance of giving birth to a baby with Down syndrome and other chromosomal abnormalities. She also discovered that the extra chromosome that causes Down syndrome may come from either parent, not only the mother. She was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1917. She was the daughter of Sentaro and Shizuko Uchida, who were first-generation Japanese immigrants. She studied English literature at the University of British Columbia before travelling to Japan in 1941. She returned to Canada just before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and was sent to an internment camp with her family during the Second World War. She continued her studies at the University of Toronto, where she earned her PhD in human genetics in 1951. She worked at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, where she studied twins and children with Down syndrome. She moved to Winnipeg in 1960, where she became the director of the Department of Medical Genetics at the Children's Hospital and a professor at the University of Manitoba. She founded the cytogenetics laboratory at McMaster University in 1969 and directed the cytogenetics laboratory at Oshawa General Hospital in 1991. She retired in 1992 and died in 2013. She was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1993 and inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 2018. She was also honored by the Sri Lankan government with a commemorative stamp in 1993.