Medical Genetics 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 incredible potential for health benefits stored in the genetic code.

We strive to train physicians who, through their expertise in medicine and genetics, become leaders in the application of genetic information to the healthcare of our patients.

Application process

Please contact Dr. Maureen Bocian, genetics fellowship director, for more information about applying to the program at: mebocian@uci.edu.

Curriculum

We have two possibilities for training in medical genetics:

• A two-year, categorical medical genetics residency requires prior satisfactory completion of 24 months of the ACGME-accredited residency training in a specialty other than medical genetics. At the end of the program, a trainee should be eligible to take the American Board of Medical Genetics (ABMG) examinations.
• A five-year combined pediatrics/medical genetics training program devotes 2 ½  years to pediatrics and 2 ½  years to medical genetics. Usually, the first year is all pediatrics, the last year is all medical genetics, and the middle three years alternate between pediatrics and medical genetics for periods of three to six months each. At the end of the program, the trainee should be eligible to take both the pediatrics boards and the genetics boards.
  
  The number and content of genetics rotations that the combined pediatrics/genetics residents do are identical to those of the categorical genetics residents except for an additional six months of genetics time. This extra 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 extra time is flexible but must be spent in academic pursuit.

Rotations in medical genetics are divided among the general genetics service (inpatient consultations and outpatient clinics), the metabolic genetics service and mitochondrial medicine service (inpatient consultations and outpatient clinics), the prenatal genetics service (primarily outpatient consultations), the cancer/adult genetics/specialty clinics rotations (primarily outpatient), laboratory rotations (clinical cytogenetics, clinical biochemical genetics, and clinical molecular genetics), and some electives.

We also have a strong didactic program involving a number of formal courses that are taken together with the genetic counseling graduate students.

All of these courses are taught by genetics division faculty specifically for graduate students and residents. They are geared towards basic science and clinical aspects of medical genetics, including Mendelian and non-traditional genetics, multifactorial disorders, clinical genetics and congenital anomalies, syndrome identification and dysmorphology, metabolic genetics, cytogenetics, biochemical and molecular genetics, cancer genetics, prenatal and reproductive genetics, teratology, mental retardation and developmental disabilities, applications and interpretation of genetic laboratory testing, quantitative genetics/genetic epidemiology, genetic screening, genetic counseling, and the social, legal and ethical aspects of medical genetics.

There are several division teaching conferences each week at UC Irvine Medical Center. Several research conferences also are available on the main university campus in Irvine.

Affiliations

UC Irvine Health is a fully accredited, comprehensive-care 411- bed hospital located in the City of Orange. 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 232-bed free-standing children's hospital located in Orange. 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.

Miller Children's Hospital is a 200-bed pediatric hospital located in Long Beach with a professional staff of more than 200 physicians and more than 40 full-time faculty. 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.