Required courses offered by other departments include biochemistry and statistics, unless the student completes a comparable course. Students must complete an approved core program, and, depending on the choice of specialization, may need to take additional graduate courses. Students must achieve basic computer literacy and show clinical and research skills. Students select and complete two defined research lab rotations before taking comprehensive exams. Topics include an overview of human genetics in Mendelian genetics, cytogenetics, population genetics, molecular cytogenetics, oncocytogenetics, and clinical applications of principles, and the importance and implications of genetic disease at the levels of the population and individual families.
Students pursue reading or supervised investigation of a problem in human genetics.
The student and instructor must agree on the research problem before the term starts. The student earns credit by readings, experiences, and oral and written presentations . Each student is assigned a local, regional, or national support group to work with during their first year of study. Students help their groups organize weekly, monthly, or annual meetings, and other activities, including newsletter distribution, sending information packets to interested individuals, and updating packet materials. Students spend at least one day with the family of a child with a genetic disorder, interview a parent of a child with a genetic disorder, and write a final paper describing the experience.