Academic Curriculum

The Laboratory Genetics and Genomics (LGG) fellowship at Children’s Mercy is a 36 month accredited American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ABMGG) program designed to prepare PhD and/or MD candidates as laboratory geneticists. Laboratory geneticists direct clinical cytogenetic and molecular genetic laboratories, where they analyze and interpret human genetic and genomic tests relevant to diagnosis and management of genetic disorders. Laboratory geneticists act as consultants for a broad range of molecular and chromosomal disorders, both inherited and acquired. 

Training will be conducted in the Clinical Genetics and Genomics laboratories on the Children’s Mercy campus. Upon successful completion of the program, the trainee will be qualified to sit for the ABMGG Clinical Laboratory Genetics and Genomics Board examination.

Program Details

The program is designed for a Fellow to spend 30 months training in the areas of clinical cytogenetics, fluorescence in-situ hybridization, microarray, and molecular genetics, including next-generation sequencing. Six months are available for research upon completion of all program requirements. 

As part of the program, the Fellow is required to:

• Take graduate-level Genetics course at Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences during the Spring semester of their first year of training.
• Audit the “Clinical genetics” section of the Pathology course at the University of Missouri-Kansas city (UMKC) Medical School.
• Attend 15 Biostatistics lectures offered by Children’s Mercy Hospital.
• Complete satisfactorily 1 month rotations each in non-specialty laboratories (Biochemical Genetics, Pharmacogenetics) at Children’s Mercy Hospital.
• Complete clinical rotations in the Children’s Mercy Genetics clinics and the Kansas University Cancer Center.
• Attend fetal health (prenatal) conferences, laboratory didactic training sessions, cancer case conferences, genetics case conferences, genetics radiology joint conferences, neuromuscular conferences, cytogenetics/molecular genetics journal clubs, clinical genetics didactic meetings and metabolic case review conferences.

Our academic curriculum provides a broad range of experiences for the fellow in order to prepare them for a career in Clinical Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics.

View the LGG Monthly Rotation Schedule.