Origin Consolidated as a clinical specialty over the second half of the twentieth century, through newborn genetic screening programs beginning in the 1960s and the Human Genome Project, completed in 2003 by a public international consortium substantially funded by the Wellcome Trust and the United States National Institutes of Health. Its early twentieth century prehistory in the eugenics movement is also part of its honest record, a period the field has since explicitly repudiated.
Medical genetics is the branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis and management of hereditary disorders, and with the role genetic variation plays in disease more broadly. It grew from early twentieth century human heredity studies into a clinical specialty following the 1953 discovery of the structure of DNA, and matured further with the 2003 completion of the Human Genome Project, an international public effort substantially funded, in Britain, through the Wellcome Trust's own Wellcome Sanger Institute.
Facts
Origin PeriodConsolidated as a clinical specialty over the second half of the twentieth century, through newborn genetic screening programs beginning in the 1960s and the Human Genome Project, completed in 2003 by a public international consortium substantially funded by the Wellcome Trust and the United States National Institutes of Health. Its early twentieth century prehistory in the eugenics movement is also part of its honest record, a period the field has since explicitly repudiated. 2 Classification
Type/Classification Medical Genetics
Filter Results1 entry
Connections
Associated With
Genetic counseling is a core service of medical genetics.
Medical Genetics is the certified clinical specialty this broader historical discipline entered medicine through.
Notable Specialists
Physician who described inborn errors of metabolism, a founding work of medical genetics.
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Treats
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Science Atlas: Genetics, was influenced by this subject there.
Sources
1. Medical Genetics (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead section, sentence 1Quote, Lead section, sentence 1
Medical genetics is the branch of medicine that involves the diagnosis and management of hereditary disorders.
2. The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity
Roy Porter, W. W. Norton and Company, 1997
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Essays About This Entity (1 essay)
Medical Genetics Keeps Its Eugenics Past in the Record, Not Off It
Frequently Asked Questions
What events shaped medical genetics into a clinical specialty?
The 1953 discovery of the structure of DNA.
Medical genetics grew from early twentieth century human heredity studies into a clinical specialty following the 1953 discovery of the structure of DNA.
What further advanced medical genetics?
The 2003 completion of the Human Genome Project.
The field matured further with the 2003 completion of the Human Genome Project, an international public effort.
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