Genomic Healthcare PGCert

Our wide range of specialist modules can also be studied individually as part of Continuous Professional Development (CPD). If you work in the NHS our modules are available with or without assessment, fully funded by NHS England as part of ‘workforce development’ (subject to available commissions).

• An Introduction to Counselling Skills in Genomics

  This module will provide you with an introduction to general communication skills and specific counselling skills used in genomic medicine. Students undertaking this module will be taught how to communicate and provide appropriate support to individuals and their families. Development of counselling skills will be achieved via theoretical and practical sessions through the use of role play within an academic setting. You will understand the importance of a family history and communication of pathogenic and/or uncertain results.

• Ethical, Legal and Social Issues in Applied Genomics

  You will be provided with a platform of ethical understanding from which to consider issues of confidentiality, privacy and disclosure, autonomy, welfare, informed consent and justice. Upon this platform, students will consider the impact of genomic technologies on individual lives and public discourse. The social implications of the availability of genetic testing and screening will be considered, especially in the context of reproductive technologies. Finally, you will be provided with a discussion of legal issues surrounding the use of genetic information as well as the use of genetic data for research, diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

• Fundamentals of Human Genetics and Genomics

  This module will prepare you to understand the role of genetics in disease and how genomic information can be utilised to elucidate disease mechanism and biology. It will cover the structure and variations in the human genomics, including fundamental principles of genetics and genomics. You will review the architecture of the human genome and the functional units embedded in it and will cover aspects of gene regulation and chromatin structure and consider the importance of the epigenome in these processes. In addition, this module will cover DNA sequence variation and structural variation; how this sort of variation is normal but that sometimes it can be associated with disease. Classic chromosomal abnormalities will be described and the mechanisms that lead to them explained. You will learn about monogenic and multifactorial genetic disorders and how gene mapping and sequencing can be used to identify causal and contributory variants.

• Genomics of Common and Rare Diseases

  This module uses examples of both common and rare diseases from across the entire healthcare spectrum to demonstrate the clinical utility of genomic data in the healthcare setting. These will give an insight into how advances in genomic technologies and integration of genomic data into clinical pathways are impacting on the management of patients from the prenatal setting, through paediatrics and into adult medicine and cancer. The module will explore the clinical presentation and genetic architecture of disease, as well as the diagnostic and therapeutic implications of genomic data for a myriad of common and rare inherited conditions using expertise from across St George's Hospital, Guy's and St Thomans' NHS Foundation Trust, City St George's, University of London and King's College London. We will explore a range of approaches used to identify genetic predisposition to common and rare inherited diseases within the context of clinical diagnostics. You will learn how to select patients with unmet diagnostic needs that will benefit from exome, or whole genome, sequencing, and some of the complexities involved in the interpretation of genomic data in the clinical context. We will also discuss the Genomics England, genomic medicine services and data infrastructure.