Leading universities open a new frontier in medical science teaching

A new course for postgraduate students has been launched by seven leading universities, including King’s.

The Genomic Medicine Masters’ programme has been designed by Health Education England for doctors, healthcare professionals and students with an interest in genetics and genomics.

As the course is jointly run in South London with St George’s, University of London, students will benefit from the breadth of expertise provided by both institutions and their links to major teaching hospitals.

Dr Francesca Capon, Senior Lecturer in the School of Basic and Medical Biosciences said: ‘We are looking forward to teaching on the renewed programme. As the advances of the 100,000 Genome projects are poised to transform the diagnosis of genetic disorders and cancer, we will be offering a variety of flexible learning opportunities to the NHS workforce and to graduates who have an interest in this fast moving field.’

There are approximately 25 places available for the course, which begins in September 2018. Students will have the choice of a one year full time, or two years part time learning option. The course will cover the technological advances which have transformed how genomic data is generated, analysed and presented.

Dr Kate Everett, Senior Lecturer in Human Genetics, at St George’s, University of London, said: ‘We are extremely proud and excited to be teaching the Genomic Medicine programme.

‘We have successfully educated more than 80 NHS staff members in the first three years of the programme and hope to reach many more in the next three to five years.

‘In particular, we are keen to encourage staff to consider bespoke sets of modules to suit their areas of interest which will contribute to postgraduate qualifications.’

All seven universities will deliver Health Education England’s Master’s programme in Genomic Medicine from autumn 2018 for a minimum of three years following the first successful iteration of this funded programme that began in 2015.

The seven universities are: Imperial College London, Queen Mary University of London, St George’s University of London (with King’s College London), University of Birmingham, University of Cambridge, University of Exeter and University of Manchester (with the University of Liverpool).

David Farrelly, Health Education England regional director and executive sponsor of HEE’s Genomics Education Programme (GEP), said: ‘Health Education England exists to support the delivery of excellent healthcare by ensuring that the workforce of today and tomorrow has the right knowledge, skills, values and behaviours.

‘Genomics is a key part of that mandate, and this innovative multi-professional Master’s programme will help to ensure that the NHS is equipped to harness the potential of genomics for the benefit of patients.’

For further information about King’s, visit the King’s in Brief web pages.