How Competitive Is Medical Genetics?

[Depression]

And what's the difference between a medical geneticist and genetic counsellor? 

[shikimate]

It's not at all competitive unless your location is limited. It's a speciality with unpredictable future like many other lab specialties. Traditionally it has focused on morphology and management of children AND adults with genetic issues like Down, Edward, PKU etc (and some fun zebra or undiagnosable conditions). It focus on management, not necessarily on counselling potential parents. But with advent of maternal screen less children are born with such problems. Yet there are so much potential here in this day of molecular tools. So how this speciality with cope with technology is difficult to predict. Other areas they work on include BRCA and familial lipid problems.

 

If you are more interested in the lab component of genetics such as FISH, PCR, etc then general pathology or medical biochemistry may be more for you.

 

I think all lab med specialties face an uncertain future with the new technology; yet it can be very exciting. The new molecular tools are like when they first discovered X-rays or built an U/S for future radiologists.

[GrouchoMarx]

I can't say much about medical genetics, but niche specialties like that which are dependent on hospitals have more challenging job markets. 

 

As with anything related to the "lab", it is not competitive.

 

Genetic counsellors are quite different from medical geneticists.

[Depression]

Wow. Thanks for the information you guys  

[mdmd2015]

It's not at all competitive unless your location is limited. It's a speciality with unpredictable future like many other lab specialties. Traditionally it has focused on morphology and management of children AND adults with genetic issues like Down, Edward, PKU etc (and some fun zebra or undiagnosable conditions). It focus on management, not necessarily on counselling potential parents. But with advent of maternal screen less children are born with such problems. Yet there are so much potential here in this day of molecular tools. So how this speciality with cope with technology is difficult to predict. Other areas they work on include BRCA and familial lipid problems.

 

If you are more interested in the lab component of genetics such as FISH, PCR, etc then general pathology or medical biochemistry may be more for you.

 

I think all lab med specialties face an uncertain future with the new technology; yet it can be very exciting. The new molecular tools are like when they first discovered X-rays or built an U/S for future radiologists.

 

 

Haha I don't know where you're getting your info, but I completely disagree with some of what you're saying! "Unpredictable future"??? If there's a specialty that's expanding right now, it's medical genetics. It's becoming part of every other specialty, more than ever, and I really don't see how that could change in say, the next 50 years.

 

Trisomies are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of genetic disorders, and there are so many others, for which we know or don't know yet the causative mutation. There is basically no limit to what can be diagnosed and what is left to be discovered. Thanks to the latest technologies (whole genome/exome sequencing, microarrays...), the number of mutations identified in patients previously undiagnosed is literally exploding. Geneticists struggle to keep up with the demand, both in the clinic, the hospital, and in the lab. In addition to patients with genetic disorders, the discipline deals with prenatal diagnosis and oncology. And there again, there is no lack of patients, quite the opposite!

 

Counselling is an important part of the job that is often overlooked (because it's a "lab" specialty), and direct management is mostly limited to metabolic disorders. Otherwise, it's mainly consultations from other doctors to make a diagnosis (when they've run out of ideas!). Although being part of multidisciplinary teams to manage complex patients is quite frequent in the hospital, but as a consultant.

 

It is true that it's a "small" specialty (there are < 100 medical geneticists in Canada), which makes the job market difficult to predict. But to anticipate a drop in demand would be non-sense.

 

And I really don't get what you mean by "uncertain future with the new technology"? Whole-genome sequencing is just starting in the clinic, so I think we still have a few good years to exploit it at its fullest!

 

Anyways, just my 2 cents. And "maybe" I'm biased 

 

Oh and a genetic counsellor has a MSc in Genetic counselling. In short, they generally deal with more straightforward cases. Their exact role depends on the center, but they work in team with geneticists.

 

OP, feel free to PM me if you want more info.

 

Cheers!