Onward

During the 50-year professional life of today’s professional and graduate students, extensive changes are likely to take place in the discovery, development, and use of genetic and genomic knowledge and tools in medicine. Judging from the quickening pace of discovery within only the past decade, it is virtually certain that we are just at the beginning of a revolution in integrating knowledge of genetics and the genome into public health and the practice of medicine. An introduction to the language and concepts of human and medical genetics and an appreciation of the genetic and genomic perspective on health and disease will form a framework for lifelong learning that is part of every health professional’s career.