Combined Pediatrics and Medical Genetics Residency Program

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), in conjunction with the Children's National Medical Center (CNMC), offers the Combined Pediatrics and Medical Genetics Residency Program to train physicians in pediatric medicine as well as in the diagnosis, management and counseling of patients with genetic disorders. Participants gain broad experience in pediatrics, clinical and molecular genetics, metabolic diseases and cytogenetics.

The program is unparalleled in several respects: It trains residents in one of the nation's most prestigious children's hospitals; it exposes students to rare genetic disorders that might not be seen in a more typical medical genetics program; it is one of the few programs that emphasizes clinical research; and it grants access to the vast resources at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and at other highly ranked medical institutions in the nation's capitol.

Candidates must have successfully completed medical training at an accredited medical school.

Trainees spend their first 30 months in a pediatrics residency program at the world-renowned Children's National Medical Center, located in the heart of Washington, D.C. Participants then receive 18 months of formal training in clinical genetics, which entails seeing patients in various NIH centers and in hospitals and outpatient clinics throughout metropolitan Washington, D.C. Clinical training highlights the role of genetics in general medicine, pediatrics, oncology, ophthalmology, dermatology and perinatal medicine.

During their final year, residents perform laboratory research on a project of their choosing in any one of the nearly 4,000 participating facilities in the Washington, D.C. area. Throughout the program, trainees attend a number of lecture courses, including: Introduction to Medical Genetics; Developmental Biology and Human Malformations; Inborn Errors of Metabolism; and Current Concepts in Clinical Molecular Genetics and Molecular Diagnostics. Attendance is also required at the weekly Clinical Genetics Case Conference and at the bi-weekly Cytogenetics/Molecular Genetics Sign-Out Conference.

Many students choose to attend the Short Course in Medical and Experimental Mammalian Genetics at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine during the month of July.

Upon completion of the program, trainees will qualify for board certification by both the Amercan Board of Pediatrics (ABP) and the American Board of Medical Genetics (ABMG).

Training Sites

• National Institutes of Health Clinical Center [cc.nih.gov]
• Children's National Medical Center and Research Institute [childrensnational.org]
• Washington Hospital Center [whcenter.org]