M EDICAL GENETICS PROVIDES challenge and opportunity for the deeper understanding of the place of humans in the world of living things and for improving the quality of life. Rich and varied careers exist in basic scientific research, in population studies, in genetic medicine, or in the newly allied interdisciplinary approaches to other life sciences, law, social sciences, and engineering. Genetic research has established the physical basis of heredity and has demonstrated that the fundamental rules of inheritance are the same in all living organisms. The close association between genetics and evolution led to the development of population genetics. Many genetic problems require study of large groups rather thaii the laboratory study of selectively bred individuals. Population geneticists observe gene frequency distributions, selection for natural fitness measured by production of offspring, and the occurrence of present and past mutations. Biomedical achievements have had dramatic and profound effects. They range from basic research leading to the discovery of the structure and function of DNA, considered by some to be the major achievement of the century, to the development of new modes of diagnosis and treatment for a large number of heritable disorders and defects, only recently identified, which have become the new clinical specialty known as genetic medicine. Genetic screening and counseling are integral to the work of practitioners in this field. The social implications of medical genetics have spread beyond conventional boundaries and into other fields, notably those of law and ethics (Shaw 1973). We must improve our understanding of how the rapid advances or this science will affect society as a whole, to formulate answers to the questions raised that will have an impact on the lives and values of us all. The human gene pool is the primary resource of humankind. It is the culmination of 3 billion years of evolution and natural selection during which 99% of all species have become extinct, despite the abundant diversity we see around us. A word of caution is in order, however. The engineering of human development to permit survival of the genetically handicapped, called euphenics, has resulted in keeping deleterious genes in the pool. Having thwarted the process of natural selection in human biological history, we must plan carefully to deal with the consequences of unwise choices in the past and to make new choices in the future that provide alternatives for improving the quality of life. Applications of genetics, abundant in medicine, are also found in many other disciplines. Geneticists can be found among biochemists, botanists, agronomists, zoologists, animal husbandry specialists, veterinarians, microbiologists, embryologists, ecologists, nutritionists, immunologists, pharmacologists, toxicologists, exobiologists, paleobiologists, molecular biologists, cell biologists, demographers, anthropologists, dental and medical specialists. Medical geneticists can be found experimenting in the research laboratory, gathering data in the field for analysis in the computer laboratory, and seeing patients in the hospital or outpatient clinic. A review of current and future areas of investigation should be of interest to those contemplating a career in medical genetics. Dolores A. Lamb is assistant to the director, Medical Genetics Center, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Graduate School r of Biomedical Sciences, Post Office Box 20334, Astrodome Station, Houston, Texas 77025. She received her B.A. degree from the University of Texas Institute of Latin American Studies in 1956, and did graduate work at the South Texas College of Law in 1971-72. Prior to joining the staff of the Medical Genetics Center, Lamb was associated with the M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute. Margery W. Shaw is director of the Medical Genetics Center, at the Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. She received her A.B. degree from the University of Alabama in 1945; her M.A. degree from Columbia University in 1946; her M.D. degree from the University of Michigan in 1957; her J.D. degree from the University of Houston in 1973; and an honorary D.Sc. degree from the University of Evansville in 1977. She is active in a number of professional and public organizations. Shaw has given over 75 invited lectures and published over 150 articles. The research for this article was supported by the Medical Genetics Center Grant GM 19513.
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Jan 1, 1994
M.A Sabry + 7
