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Medical Genetics and Genomics Residency

With the sequencing of the human genome, genetics has become an increasingly important aspect of modern medical care. The medical genetics residency program recognizes the invaluable contributions that medical genetics healthcare professionals make in the diagnosis, management, and prevention of genetic diseases and the difference these individuals make in the lives of patients and families.

We strive to train a new generation of physicians who, through their expertise in medicine and genetics, will become leaders in a rewarding specialty that will improve the health of our patients, their families, and our community. 

Curriculum

We have two possibilities for training in Medical Genetics and Genomics:

  • A two-year, categorical Medical (clinical) Genetics and Genomics residency that requires prior satisfactory completion of 24 months of direct-patient-care-related, ACGME-accredited residency training in a specialty other than Medical Genetics and Genomics.  At the end of the program, a trainee should be eligible to take the American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ABMGG) examinations. 
  • A four-year, combined Pediatrics/Medical (Clinical) Genetics and Genomics training program.  The first year of training is spent entirely in Pediatrics in direct patient care experiences.  During the final 36 months, continuous 6-month assignments alternate between Medical Genetics and Genomics and Pediatrics, with the option for up to 9 months spent in clinical genetics and genomics in the 4th year.  The last six months is expected to be devoted to research or to training in a specialized area of genetics in which the resident intends to devote his or her career; this time is flexible but must be spent in academic pursuit.  Residents should enter the combined training residency at the first postgraduate year level (PG-1). A resident may enter a combined residency at the PG-2 level only if the first residency year was served in a categorical residency in Pediatrics in the same academic health system.  Combined training in Pediatrics and Medical Genetics and Genomics should allow the development of physicians who are fully qualified in both specialties.  Physicians completing this training should be competent pediatricians and medical geneticists capable of professional activity in either discipline.  At the end of the program, the trainee should be eligible to take both the Pediatrics board examination and the Medical Genetics and Genomics board examinations.

Rotations in medical genetics in both programs are divided among the pediatric and adult genetics services (outpatient clinics and inpatient consultations), metabolic genetics (inpatient consultations and outpatient clinics), prenatal genetics (primarily outpatient consultations), cancer genetics (primarily outpatient), laboratory rotations (clinical cytogenetics, clinical biochemical genetics, and clinical molecular genetics), electives, and research time.  There are weekly continuity clinics in the 2-year program; in the 4-year program, Pediatrics continuity clinics occur in the first two years, and Genetics continuity clinics are held in the last two years. 

We also have weekly clinical patient conferences, monthly journal club, research conferences, and a strong didactic program involving a number of formal courses that are taken together with our genetic counseling graduate students. The didactic courses cover basic and clinical aspects of medical genetics, including Mendelian, mitochondrial, and non-traditional genetics, multifactorial and polygenic conditions, clinical genetics and congenital anomalies, syndrome identification and dysmorphology, metabolic genetics, cytogenetics/cytogenomics, metabolic genetics, molecular genetics and bioinformatics, cancer genetics, prenatal/reproductive genetics, teratology, applications and interpretation of genetic/genomic laboratory testing, quantitative genetics/genetic epidemiology, genetic screening, genetic counseling, and the social, legal and ethical aspects of Medical Genetics and Genomics. 

Our Genetics faculty comprises 10 MD or MD/Ph.D. geneticists and 9 genetic counselors.  Because we have only 1-2 residents, they train directly with the Genetics faculty in clinics and inpatient consultations and receive a considerable amount of one-on-one teaching as they progress toward independent practice. 

Regarding the Pediatrics component of the 4-year combined training program:

The UC Irvine Pediatric Residency Program recognizes that providing medical care for children is a privilege as well as a responsibility and believes in providing residents with a top-notch, broad-based educational experience in a collegial environment.  Our philosophy has earned us our reputation as a "resident-friendly" program.  We welcome aspiring pediatricians who are equally committed to this philosophy.  Our Pediatric residency integrates patient care, didactic teaching, and research to fulfill this fundamental mission.  Training in pediatrics focuses on the total care of the child from birth through young adulthood and provides a strong clinical and educational foundation through experiences with a broad spectrum of pathology, normal development, preventive healthcare, and use of community resources.  For information about the residency curriculum in Pediatrics, please see https://www.pediatrics.uci.edu/residency/index.asp

Teaching Hospitals

UC Irvine Health is a fully accredited, comprehensive-care 417- bed hospital located in the City of Orange and is the primary teaching location for the UCI School of Medicine.  1011 full- and part-time faculty and 850 volunteer faculty members are involved in teaching, providing medical care and conducting research into the health challenges facing the 21st century. The medical center offers high-level medical and surgical inpatient services, including a regional burn unit and a county-wide Level I trauma referral center. Designated as a Level III regional perinatal center, UC Irvine Medical Center provides the only combined tertiary referral center in the county for high-risk maternal and neonatal care. The center is also home to a full-scope child and adolescent medical-psychiatry unit.  UC Irvine-affiliated ambulatory pediatric clinics provide outpatient primary care services. 

CHOC Children’s Hospital of Orange County is a 334-bed free-standing children's hospital located in the city of Orange.  There are more than 600 providers on the medical staff representing more than 30 specialties.  Together with UC Irvine, CHOC is the largest provider of pediatric services in Orange County. As a full-scope children’s hospital, CHOC offers inpatient and outpatient subspecialty care in a state-of-the-art facility with several nationally-recognized institutes and programs. 

Miller Children's and Women’s Hospital is located in Long Beach and has 357 licensed pediatric and women’s beds with a professional pediatric faculty and staff of more than 870 board-certified hospitalists, pediatric specialists/sub-specialists, surgical sub-specialists and dentists and nearly 100 board-certified physicians in the MemorialCare Center for Women.  As a dedicated children's hospital, Miller offers training experiences of great depth in fundamental as well as state-of-the-art pediatric medicine.  Miller is home to one of the largest newborn intensive care units in California and a regional pediatric trauma center. It is nationally recognized for care provided in its Jonathan Jaques Children's Cancer Center and Cystic Fibrosis Center.

Application Process

Applicants must use the ERAS system (listed under Fellowships for the 2-year program and under Residencies for the 4-year program). For more information about our training programs, please contact Dr. Maureen Bocian, Medical Genetics and Genomics residency/fellowship director, at: mebocian@uci.edu.

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