Approved as a bona fide clinical specialty and the twenty-fourth member of the American Board of Medical Specialties in 1993, medical genetics has evolved over the past 40 years from a basic science to a clinical discipline that many believe will become a factor in most patient encounters. It is predicted that a "revolution in health care delivery" will result in physicians' increasingly using genetic screening and testing to determine a patient's individual susceptibility to diseases. The key to the integration of medical genetics into the medical practice of all physicians is the basic family history.
Medical geneticists may choose to work primarily with infants and children. Some, trained as obstetricians may focus on the genetic problems of fetuses; others, trained as pediatricians, will care for children. Family physicians and general internists, trained as medical geneticists, may work primarily with adults who have family history of disease.
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American College of Medical Genetics
The American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) is an organization composed of biochemical, clinical, cytogenetic, medical and molecular geneticists, genetic counselors and other health care professionals committed to the practice of medical genetics....
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