What is medical genetics all about????

[TeFlon]

any chance u many know about what sort of things a doctor involved in medical genetics may need to do and any different methods of treatment?? I'm very much interested in medicine as a career and i find genentics generally fascinating too and any info would be very much appreciated. Many thanks. Oh yes and I wish you all the best in your exams!!

I would think a doctor in medical genetics would be involved in alot of medical research, such as gene therapy etc.

But I may be wrong.

[Crimson Phoenix]

I've been thinking about Medical Genteics as well. I am currently doing a genetics degree, and (fingers crossed) might be doing medicine afte I graduate. I always wanted to intgrate the two. Is it enough to already have a degree in genetics, then do Medicine to be a clinical genetisist?

[Dan1979]

Your genetics BSc will obviously be useful, but a medical degree alone should be enough if you can get the right foundation jobs.

[nikki_smilez]

hey. if i didnt get into medicine i was gonna do medical genetics. at the ncl open day i went to, it was implied but mmost ppl workin in that sort of area arent doctors in medicine (must to my annoyance). as well as intercalating, what would you need to do to end up as a medical genetist?

[Dan1979]

Not quite true; clinical geneticists deal with the medical implications of genetic disease. There are also specialist nurses, and GPs with a special interest in genetics. I guess researchers don't specifically need a medical background.

I'd be surprised if you needed to intercalate to become a clinical geneticist, but I don't have a copy of "So You Want To Be a Brain Surgeon?" to hand. If anyone else does, I believe there is a relevant section in it.

[Pip]

If you've got a relevant BSc you can get time cut off your specialist Clinical Geneticist training, though it's not much and depends on what you've covered, so I suppose a full 3 year BSc is more useful than an intercalated, but I haven't been able to check on that. As genetics becomes something that is more widely known about I imagine the specialty will become a little more popular and competitive. It's harder work than you'd expect, I've looked into clinical genetics as a career option, and was quite surprised. It's far more, I suppose, technical than I expected. You really have to know your stuff with all the molecular biology, it's quite an involved subject - you don't just send things off to the lab and get a magic answer out because the process is so complicated - you have to decide what exactly you're looking for amongst all that DNA and figure out how you might spot it. There's a lot of interaction with other people (which is great, one of the person specification things also requires that you're enthusiastic about teaching). It can also be rather distressing. You can take a general or paediatrics route in, but a lot of the work does involve newborns and children, and there are some extremely nasty conditions involved. What is quite nice is that there's a lot of opportunity to stay in touch with patients - the counselling process can go on for a considerable length of time, and there's a real feeling of the personal touch, a lot of the nurse cousellors etc. go out to people's homes for counselling sessions.
Like all jobs I suppose you need to really spend some time finding out about it. If you do want to go that route a BSc helps (go as technical as possible rather than the more clinical options when choosing modules and research in this, just to get a better idea of what's involved) and then work hard to get into paediatrics, as this seems to be the most commonly taken route from what I've seen, though things do change.

[iampatrick]

Hey fellas! Currently I am studying about biomedical science and more focus to genetics and immunology. Keep finger crossed that hopefully I am able to enter medical school after my UG programme. Anyway, aspects of medical genetics very wide, even can say that, if medicine need genetics application, then there will be existence of medical genetics. Somehow, currently I am focusing about SHM issue in AID hypermutase of B cell. It's interesting actually. Hope can interact with you all frequently.

[klinorgerry]

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[darkido]

heyhey so a medical genetist can be a medical doctor who specialised in genetic disorders??? So it can be a specialist subject? I am keen on medical genetics but I don't know much about the career path that I can take..any one can enlighten me?

[BMParent]

Medical genetics is a very interesting and challenging course and is perceived as one of the hardest medically related subjects if you are not reading medicine. It is a good stepping stone to medicine too.

Leicester is a fantastically good uni for the subject and the tutors there are excellent. Career prospects are excellent too.