ABSTRACT
Throughout this book I have used both the terms ‘medical genetics’ and ‘genetics in medicine’, often indiscriminately. But these words reflect a deeper meaning in terms of how one thinks about genetics and how one uses it in one's practice, regardless of whether this is clinical or laboratory based. I believe that the balance and counterpoint between these two terms and the approaches that underlie them have been critical and essential to the development of the field as reflected in its history, and that this balance will be equally important in determining its future.
