Medical genetics, different from human genetics, is a recognized primary medical specialty by the American Board of Medical Specialties. It comprises the practice of medicine with a particular focus in hereditary disorders. These physicians are specialists at evaluating, diagnosing, managing, and counseling patients and their families with genetic disorders.
Salary
There wasn’t much information on the median and starting salaries for genetics doctors. But I did find some sources and will list them here. If you have any more info, please share them in the comments.
- Commentor on Eye on DNA – $90,000 to $125,000
- Salary Expert – $90,000 to $165,000
- PayScale – $40,268 to $170,697
- eHow – $56,000 to $162,800
The Texas Tribune lists real salary figures of geneticists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The chair makes $336,029. Dr. Louise Strong makes $281,681 as a genetics professor. Dr. Hope Northrup makes $167,300 as a pediatrics geneticist. Dr. Michael Gambello makes $143,000 as a pediatric geneticist.
To become a medical genetics physician, you must complete 2 years of residency in any recognized medical specialty. Then you need to do 2 years of a genetics residency for a total of 4 years of training. If you want to subspecialize, you can do 1-2 more years of training in fellowships.
Currently, there are 50 genetic residencies offering about 100 spots.
Medical genetics is an interesting field that focuses on hereditary disorders. Think Huntingtons, Neurofibromatosis, metabolic disorders, mitochondrial disorders. Remember the pedigrees? If you are interested in genetics and enjoy the clinical side of medicine, you might like this field!
Sources
Eye on DNA, Salaries for Jobs in Genetics
Salary Expert, Specialist in Medical Genetics
The Texas Tribune, Search Genetics
eHow, What is a clinical geneticist’s salary range?
PayScale, Clinical Genetics
ACGME