title: The Clinic Is My Laboratory: Life as a Clinical Geneticist.
abstract: Clinical genetics is the application of advances in genetics and medicine to real human families. It involves diagnosis, care, and counseling concerning options available to affected individuals and their family members. Advances in medicine and genetics have led to dramatic changes in the scope and responsibilities of clinical genetics. This reflection on the last 50+ years of clinical genetics comes from personal experience, with an emphasis on the important contributions that clinical geneticists have made to the understanding of disease/disorder processes and mechanisms. The genetics clinic is a research laboratory where major advances in knowledge can and have been made.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Genetics and Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia and BC Children's Hospital, Vancouver V6H 3N1, Canada; email: jhall@cw.bc.ca.
authors.forename: Judith G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Hall
mesh_terms: D005826:Genetics, Medical / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D014481:United States
keywords: autobiography; certification; clinical genetics; genetic counseling; history; medical genetics; principles