A career in clinical genetics can be very varied involving laboratory work, contact with patients and their families, teaching and research. The potential for research in genetics is excellent - there are many opportunities for laboratory based work as well as clinical and health services research. Genetics is an international specialty and there are lots of chances for research experience overseas.

The specialty has expanded in scope over the past two decades with the number of consultants roughly doubling every five years. Nevertheless it has maintained a strong academic tradition with the proportion of academics remaining at around 30 per cent. While many of the specialists from other disciplines who come to genetics for a limited period of training decide to stay, others return to their own specialty and build firm links with colleagues in genetics.

The recent initiative in clinical academic medicine has led to the creation of several clinical academic training posts and clinical academic lecturer posts (for example in Manchester and Cambridge). These are designed to give a broad training in both clinical genetics and research, to train the senior clinical academics of the future.

Skills, interests and aptitudes

The most important requirements for a career in genetics are curiosity about disease and genetic mechanisms and an ability to communicate complex facts in an understandable and sympathetic way. A good memory also helps as there are many thousands of genetic diseases - although online resources now make life much easier!

The area chosen for sub-specialisation within genetics often depends on whether general professional training was in adult medicine or paediatrics (or occasionally in obstetrics, pathology or primary care). Those electing to concentrate on birth defect syndromes (dysmorphology) would find an aptitude for pattern recognition useful while those specialising in cancers genetics would benefit from having excellent mathematical skills.