Human genetics

Human genetics became a predominant field of 20th-century science once techniques in molecular biology were applied to medical knowlege and to pedigree studies in families with inherited disease.

Development of human genetics as a field in medicine and clinical laboratory science

In the USA, "MD clinical geneticists comprise the primary medical specialist group trained and certified in clinical genetics, although their numbers are small when compared with other medical specialties. In 2005, there were only 1,178 board-certified MD clinical geneticists among the more than 697,000 board-certified physicians."(reference:Cooksey JA. Forte G. Flanagan PA. Benkendorf J. Blitzer MG. The medical genetics workforce: an analysis of clinical geneticist subgroups. [Journal Article. Genetics in Medicine. 8(10):603-14, 2006 Oct. UI: 17079876

Important leaders in human genetics

• James V. Neel

Patients and clients seen by physician geneticists

In the United States, recent surveys have shown that about 70% of the patients seen by physicians specializing in genetics are children, their clients include, of course, the paremnts of those children. Almost half of the children seen in practice are newborns or infants, and these are primarily brought to the attention of the physician because of birth defects, including metabolic defects, physical deformities, chromosomal abnormalities and other syndromes. Toddlers, older children and adolescents make up the slight majority of pediatric patients, and include similar diagnoses and presenting problems, along with those children being evaluated for developmental delay.

References

Cooksey JA. Forte G. Benkendorf J. Blitzer MG. The state of the medical geneticist workforce: findings of the 2003 survey of American Board of Medical Genetics certified geneticists. Genetics in Medicine. 7(6):439-43, 2005 Jul-Aug. UI: 1602497)

External links

American Board of Human Genetics http://genetics.faseb.org/genetics/abmg/abmgmenu.htm