Chloe Molnar

In November 2024, I spent four weeks with the Manchester Centre for Genomic Medicine as part of my university elective placement. Genomic medicine is such a small part of the curriculum at my university, so it was an amazing experience to join the team under the supervision of Prof. Siddharth Banka and Dr Catherine Breen.

Right from the start everyone was very kind and welcoming, allowing me to make the most of my time in Manchester! Over the four weeks, I joined a range of clinics with the clinical geneticists, genetic counsellors and psychologist, and was also encouraged to join the metabolic team on their ward rounds and shadow the registrars on urgency. I really appreciated the opportunity to join so many different clinics as it allowed me to greater understand the scope within genetics and learn from the different clinicians, each who had their own areas of interest. I especially enjoyed the general genetics clinics, cancer genetics clinics and the Huntington’s Disease clinic, and it was really interesting to see in practice things I had only ever heard about in theory.  

I also spent some time in the genetic testing laboratory, with the clinical trials team, in multidisciplinary team meetings, and attended regular teaching seminars, all of which helped deepen my understanding of genetics and the possibilities for the future.

Overall this was a really amazing and educational experience, and I would highly recommend to other medical students with an interest in genetics!