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 FAQs
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.
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 Australasian Association of Clinical Geneticists (Wikipedia)
Source A personal glimpse of Bert de Vries (Radboudumc news, 26 November 2020)
Source Dr. David A. Koolen, MD, PhD (Koolen-de Vries Syndrome Foundation medical board)
Source Fritz Lenz (Deutsche Biographie)
Source John M. Opitz (Wikipedia)
Source Marco Fraccaro (ESHG Genetics and Medicine Historical Network)
Source Michael Nehls (source article)
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Treats
In the Other Atlases
Influenced By
Also in Science Atlas: which influenced this subject.
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
Australasian Association of Clinical Geneticists (Wikipedia)
Notable Specialists: Australasian Association of Clinical Geneticists, Lead paragraph 1Quote, Notable Specialists: Australasian Association of Clinical Geneticists, Lead paragraph 1
medical specialists who are qualified to work in the field of clinical genetics
Marco Fraccaro (ESHG Genetics and Medicine Historical Network)
Notable Specialists: Marco Fraccaro, PDF page 2, Biography [specialist-in 2]Quote, Notable Specialists: Marco Fraccaro, PDF page 2, Biography [specialist-in 2]
to establish a human genetics department, with a focus on human cytogenetics
Dr. David A. Koolen, MD, PhD (Koolen-de Vries Syndrome Foundation medical board)
Notable Specialists: David A. Koolen, Title lineQuote, Notable Specialists: David A. Koolen, Title line
Clinical Geneticist
A personal glimpse of Bert de Vries (Radboudumc news, 26 November 2020)
Notable Specialists: Bert B. A. de Vries, Prior training answerQuote, Notable Specialists: Bert B. A. de Vries, Prior training answer
started working as a Clinical Geneticist in the department of Human Genetics
John M. Opitz (Wikipedia)
Notable Specialists: John M. Opitz, Lead and biography [specialist-in]Quote, Notable Specialists: John M. Opitz, Lead and biography [specialist-in]
was a German-American medical geneticist
Fritz Lenz (Deutsche Biographie)
Notable Specialists: Fritz Lenz, NDB 14 (1985), BiographieQuote, Notable Specialists: Fritz Lenz, NDB 14 (1985), Biographie
betätigte sich nur noch als Humangenetiker
Michael Nehls (source article)
Notable Specialists: Michael Nehls, LeadQuote, Notable Specialists: Michael Nehls, Lead
postdoctoral lecture qualification in molecular genetics
Essays About This Entity (1 essay)
Medical Genetics Keeps Its Eugenics Past in the Record, Not Off It
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