Preparing clinicians for genomic medicine

Medical advances in the field of genomics are progressing at an almost unimaginable speed. There are clear expectations that genomic technologies will ‘transform’ medical care and deliver the new era of precision medicine. Integrating genomics into clinical pathways will enable a better understanding of disease risk, enhanced diagnostics to determine the molecular basis of disease and treatments fine-tuned to the patient's physiology.1 It will form a central plank of NHS England's emerging Personalised Medicine Strategy.2 However, wide-scale transformation requires that clinicians are open to new possibilities and willing to adopt new practices—both as individuals and in teams providing healthcare services.3 In the UK, the creation of Genomics England and funding of the 100 000 Genomes Project have raised the profile of genomics for health and placed education of the workforce as one of the central pillars.4 While the current and future relevance of genomics is becoming clear, there is a danger that the realisation of benefits for better health may be defeated by the sheer scale and breadth of change in clinical practice that is required and the complexity of the educational landscape through which such workforce development must act. We believe that leadership from within clinical specialties will be a key requirement for change. In this article, we provide a description of the situation in the UK. While detailed arrangements will differ we believe that the principles will be applicable internationally where similar educational needs are recognised.5