Rhodri Smith: My Clinical Genetics training journey
I have not taken the most typical route into clinical genetics, but I am glad that I did.
I have always held a keen interest in genetics and went on to do a degree in the subject from school before going on to do a masters, PhD, and post doc in various aspects of human genetics.
It was only then that I decided that a career in medicine was for me and so I undertook a degree in medicine at Liverpool University.
After I had completed my foundation training, I took a year to evaluate things (F3 year) before I started my ACF in rheumatology, aspiring to be a clinical academic in rheumatology which would complement my previous career as a scientist looking at genetics of autoimmune disease. I was enrolled onto run through training in rheumatology and general internal medicine and we were the first year of the Internal Medicine Training programme too, and I completed my MRCP membership exams during this time as well.
I was always aware of clinical genetics from an early stage but for some reason that I will never really understand, had not really considered it as a career until later in my ACF training at the start of IMT3.
However, as I investigated the role of a clinical geneticist more, I became increasingly convinced this was a career for me, and so I contacted my local genetics service who invited me to join them for some multi-disciplinary meetings and sit in on some clinics too, which I was able to do sporadically as my rota allowed.
Having been inspired by what I saw, I decided that I would apply for Clinical Genetics training. Having a PhD and an academic publication record in genetics I felt that I had a strong application but was not successful on my first application attempt, following interview. After a period of reflection, I realised that I clearly did not have the experience in clinical genetics to give myself a chance in an interview for a discipline that is increasingly competitive.
Feeling that I needed more on the job experience if I was to give myself a chance of success, I resigned my training position as an ST4 in rheumatology and GIM registrar, to take up a fixed term fellowship in clinical genetics where I had my own clinic and undertook a similar role to a junior registrar.
Resigning my training post was a big decision, and one I presided over for a considerable length of time, not only for my own career aspirations, but also because I was no spring chicken and had a young family with three children under 5 to think of too. Nonetheless with support of my family and colleagues I took this leap of faith, and with the experience gained from my fellowship, I was successful with my second application the following year.
I am now coming to the end of my first year of training (ST3) and have absolutely no regrets regarding the decisions I made and would certainly encourage anyone who is considering clinical genetics as a career to get in contact with their local department to explore things further.