"Just as our present knowledge and practice of medicine relies on a
sophisticated knowledge of human anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry, so will
dealing with disease in the future demand a detailed understanding of the
molecular anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry of the human genome. We shall
have to have physicians who are as conversant with the molecular anatomy of
chromosomes and genes as the cardiac surgeon is with the structure and workings
of the heart and circulatory tree. Gene therapy will have to be evaluated in
terms of alternative and more conventional forms of treatment just as is now
done before undertaking heart valve replacements and renal transplants."
Paul Berg at Banbury Center, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Conference on "Prospects for Gene Therapy: Fact & Fiction" February 1982
Definition:
Medical genetics involves the application of genetic principles
in the practice of medicine. Medical genetics encompasses diagnosis and
treatment of genetic diseases, study of inheritance of diseases in families,
mapping of disease genes to their chromosome locations, study of the molecular
genetics and pathogenesis of inherited disorders, provision of genetic
counseling for families, and recently, investigations of methods for gene
therapy.
The field of Human Genetics has expanded exponentially over the
past twenty-five years. In fact, by the time you graduate you will be able to
select residency training in Medical Genetics. Although medical genetics was
once thought of as an exotic and arcane subspeciality, advances in the
development of new and more accurate methods of diagnosing hereditary disease
have led to a greater "genetic awareness" and recognition that medical genetics
plays a role in all areas of medicine.
Medical geneticists care for fetuses in utero, newborns,
children, and adults with inherited conditions, adults with infertility or
recurrent miscarriages, and adults who are genetically predisposed to cancer.
Unlike any other field, genetics represents a true integration
between the basic and the clinical sciences.
See also:
American Society for Human Genetics
Information and Education Committee. American Society for Human
Genetics Report. Report from the ASHG Information and Education Committee:
Medical School Core Curriculum in Genetics. American Journal
of Human Genetics. 1995 Feb;56(2):535-7.
