Medical Students Trained in Genomics and Personalized Medicine

Doctors have recommended that genomics and personalized medicine become a core competency for all pathology trainees by 2012.

As a first step in leading this program, the department of pathology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC; Boston, MA; USA) in collaboration with BIDMC's genetic counseling service, last year launched the Genomic Medicine Initiative, a compulsory program to prepare doctors-in-training to apply genomics and personalized medicine in their day-to-day practices.

Jeffrey Saffitz, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues wrote in a special article in the June, 2010 edition of the American Journal Of Clinical Pathology (AJCP), "Genomics and 'medical sequencing' will revolutionize clinical laboratory diagnostics as the foundation for the new era of personalized medicine.....Pathologists must take the lead in the application of genomics technologies, including whole genome sequencing, laboratory technologies, and personalized medicine."

The new BIDMC pathology curriculum addresses these issues, with the new medical specialty built on three pillars: laboratory medicine, genetic counseling, and health information technology. Richard Schwartzstein, M.D., vice president for education at BIDMC and a faculty dean for medical education at Harvard Medical School (Boston, MA, USA), explained, "The integration of genetic information will be the core of 'patient-centered' care."

Related Links:
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Harvard Medical School