Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Toward a comparative history of medical genetics as a medical specialty in North America

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Much of what has been written about the history of medical genetics in North America has focused on physician involvement in eugenics and the transition from heredity counseling to genetic counseling in the United States. What are typically missing in these accounts are details concerning the formation of a new medical specialty, i.e., medical genetics, and Canada’s involvement in specialty formation. Accordingly, this paper begins to fill in gaps by investigating, on the one hand, the history of American and Canadian geneticists working together to support the creation of examining and teaching positions in human genetics in North American medical schools and, on the other, working independently of one another to monitor the rate and direction of workloads and patient access to local genetic counseling and laboratory services and, subsequently, achieve recognition for medical genetics as a medical specialty at the national level.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. From the cover of the American Journal of Human Genetics (Jul 13, 2012), 91(1).

  2. See Leeming (2001, pp. 468-469). Following Robbins and Johnston (1976), I use the term “ideological” in a restricted sense. It refers here only to those systems of closely related beliefs, ideas and attitudes that exist among the groupings of medical professionals and scientists studied in this article.

References

  • AAMC, Subcommittee on Objectives of Teaching, Association of American Medical Colleges. (1955). The teaching of pathology, microbiology, immunology, genetics. Journal of Medical Education, 30 (Suppl., Sept. 1955), 1–23.

  • Allen, G. (1986). The eugenics record office at Cold Spring Harbor, 1910–1940: An essay in institutional history. Osiris, 2, 225–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bergsma, D., & Lynch, H. T. (Eds.) (1968). International directory of genetic services. White Plains: National Foundation – March of Dimes.

  • Bergsma, D., & Lynch, H. T. (Eds.) (1969). International directory of genetic services. White Plains: National Foundation – March of Dimes.

  • Bergsma, D., & Lynch, H. T. (Eds.) (1971). International directory of genetic services. White Plains: National Foundation – March of Dimes.

  • Bergsma, D., & Lynch, H. T. (Eds.) (1974). International directory of genetic services. White Plains: National Foundation – March of Dimes.

  • Björkman, M., & Tunlid, A. (2017). The establishment of genetic counselling in Sweden: 1940–1980. In H. Petermann, P. Harper, & S. Doetz (Eds.), History of human genetics: Aspects of its development and global perspectives (pp. 339–366). Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Burnham, J. C. (1996). How the concept of profession evolved in the work of historians of medicine. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 70(1), 1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Canning, C., Weisz, G., Tone, A., & Cambrosio, A. (2013). Medical genetics at McGill: The history of a pioneering research group. Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, 30(1), 31–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1997). Translating advances in human genetics into public health action: A strategic plan (1997). URL: http://www.cdc.gov/genetics/New.htm. Accessed: December, 2005.

  • Childs, B., Huether, C. A., & Murphy, E. A. (1981). Human genetics teaching in U.S. medical schools. American Journal of Human Genetics, 33(1), 1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Childs, B., & Opitz, J. M. (1982). Genetics in the medical curriculum. American Journal of Medical Genetics, 13(3), 319–324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Comfort, N. (2006). Polyhybrid heterogeneous bastards: Promoting medical genetics in America in the 1930s and 1940s. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 61(4), 415–455.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Comfort, N. (2012). The science of human perfection: How genes became the heart of American medicine. Yale University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Committee on Genetics as it Relates to Social Problems (1973). Report of the Committee on Genetics as it relates to social problems. Genetics Society of Canada Bulletin, 5, 5–6.

  • Committee, S. (1975). The Canadian college of medical genetics. Genetics Society of Canada Bulletin, 6, 32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connor, J. M. (1991). International directory of genetic services. Journal of Medical Genetics, 28(1), 69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coventry, P. A., & Pickstone, J. V. (1999). From what and why did genetics emerge as a medical specialism in the 1970s in the UK? A case-history of research, policy and services in the Manchester region of the NHS. Social Science & Medicine, 49(9), 1227–1238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davenport, C. (1912). Heredity in relation to eugenics. Williams and Norgate.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Davidson, R. G., & Childs, B. (1987). Perspectives in the teaching of human genetics. Advances in Human Genetics, 16, 79–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DHSS (Department of Health and Social Security) (1987). Special medical development in clinical genetics. Interim report: Clinical effectiveness in the service context. Medical Division CDPNM.

  • Dice, L. R. (1952). Heredity clinics: Their value for public service and for research. American Journal of Human Genetics, 4(1), 1–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Döhler, M. (1993). Comparing national patterns of medical specialization: A contribution to the theory of professions. Social Science Information, 32(2), 185–231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duster, T. (2003). Backdoor to eugenics. Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Fitzsimmons, J. S., & Fitzsimmons, E. M. (1980). A handbook of clinical genetics. William Heinemann Medical Books Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser, F. C., & Dallaire, L. (1992). Quebec. In H. C. Soltan (Ed.), Medical genetics in Canada. evolution of a hybrid discipline: Essays on the early history. University of Western Ontario Regional Medical Genetics Centre, 96–106.

  • Fraser, F. C. (1974). Genetic counseling. American Journal of Human Genetics, 26(5), 636–661.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser, F. C. (1977). Commentary – Developments in the organization of genetics in Canada. In H. A. Lubs & F. de La Cruz (Eds.), Genetic counseling: A monograph of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (pp. 553–560). Raven Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham, J. M., Jr., Rotter, J. I., Riccardi, V. M., Baird, P. A., Benkendorf, J., Bodurtha, J., Childs, B., Davidson, R., Huether, C. A., & Laing, K. (1989). Report of the task force on teaching human genetics in North American medical schools. American Journal of Human Genetics, 44(1), 161–165.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harper, P. S. (2008). A short history of medical genetics. Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Harwood, J. (1993). Styles of scientific thought: The German genetics community, 1900–1933. University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haworth, J. C., Miller, J. R., & Scriver, C. R. (1974). Screening, counselling and treatment of hereditary metabolic disease; a survey of resources in Canada. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 111, 1147–1153.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heimler, A. (1997). An oral history of the national society of genetic counselors. Journal of Genetic Counseling, 6, 315–336.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herndon, C. N. (1954a). Human genetics and medical education. Journal of Medical Education, 29, 13–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herndon, C. N. (1954b). III. Heredity counselling. Eugenics Quarterly, 1, 1–2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herndon, C. N. (1956). Genetics in the medical school curriculum. American Journal of Human Genetics, 8(1), 1–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hickman, F., & Opitz, J. M. (1981). Comprehensive planning of human genetics education: A position statement. American Journal of Medical Genetics, 8(2), 243–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirschhorn, K. (2008). A short history of the American society of human genetics. American Journal of Human Genetics, 83(3), 307–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hogan, A. J. (2016). Life histories of genetic disease: Patterns and prevention in postwar medical genetics. Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hogben, L. (1931). Genetic principles in medicine and social science. Williams and Norgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hogben, L. (1933). Nature and nurture: Being the William Withering memorial lectures on “The methods of clinical genetics” delivered in the faculty of medicine of the university of Birmingham for the year 1933. Williams and Norgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kenen, R. H. (1984). Genetic counseling: The development of a new interdisciplinary occupational field. Social Science and Medicine, 18(7), 541–549.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kenen, R. H. (1997). Opportunities and impediments for a consolidating and expanding profession: Genetic counseling in the United States. Social Science and Medicine, 45(9), 1337–1386.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kevles, D. J. (1985). In the name of eugenics: Genetics and uses of human heredity. University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kinmonth, A. L., Reinhard, J., Bobrow, M., & Pauker, S. (1998). Implications for clinical services in Britain and the United States. British Medical Journal, 316(7133), 767–770.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leeming, W. (2001). Professionalization theory, medical specialists and the concept of “national patterns of specialization.” Social Science Information, 40(3), 455–485.

  • Leeming, W. (2004). The early history of medical genetics in Canada. Social History of Medicine, 17(3), 481–500.

  • Leeming, W. (2007). On the relevance of the “genetics‐based” approach to medicine for sociological perspectives on medical specialization. Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie, 44(2), 151–173.

  • Leeming, W. (2013). Looking back on the future of genetic counselling in Canada. Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, 30(1), 101-122.

  • Leeming, W., & Barahona, A. (2018). Synthesis, convergence, and differences in the entangled histories of cytogenetics in medicine: A comparative study of Canada and Mexico. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 71, 8–16.

  • Levine, M. D., Gursky, J. M., & Rimoin, D. L. (1977). Results of a survey on the teaching of medical genetics to medical students, house officers, and fellows. In H. A. Lubs & F. de la Cruz (Eds.), Genetic counseling (pp. 349–368). Raven Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindee, M. S. (2002). Genetic disease in the 1960s: A structural revolution. American Journal of Medical Genetics, 115(2), 75–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin-Fu, J. S., & Lloyd-Puryear, M. A. (2000). Access to genetic services in the United States: A challenge to genetics in public health. In M. J. Khoury, W. Burke, & E. J. Thomson (Eds.), Genetics and public health in the 21st century: Using genetic information to improve health and prevent disease (pp. 273–289). Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ludmerer, K. M. (1972). Genetics and American society: A historical appraisal. Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Macklin, M. T. (1932a). ‘Medical genetics’: A necessity to the up-to-date medical curriculum. Journal of Heredity, 23, 485–486.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macklin, M. T. (1932b). Should the teaching of genetics as applied to medicine have a place in the medical curriculum? Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, 7, 368–373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macklin, M. T. (1933a). The teaching of inheritance of disease to medical students: A proposed course in medical genetics. Annals of Internal Medicine, 6, 1335–1343.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macklin, M. T. (1933b). Medical genetics: An essential part of the medical curriculum from the standpoint of prevention. Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, 8, 291–304.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marks, J. H., & Richter, M. L. (1976). The genetic associate: A new health professional. American Journal of Public Health, 66(4), 388–390.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLaren, A. (1990). Our own master race: Eugenics in Canada 1885 1945. McClelland and Stewart.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, F. (2002). The importance of being marginal: Norma Ford Walker and a Canadian school of medical genetics. American Journal of Medical Genetics, 115(2), 102–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, J. R. (1972). Report of genetic counselling services in Canada. Genetics Society of Canada Bulletin, 2, 21–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Motulsky, A. G. (1979). Postdoctoral education and training in medical genetics. In I. H. Porter & E. B. Hook (Eds.), Service and education in medical genetics (pp. 409–418). Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Clearinghouse for Human Genetic Diseases, Clinical Genetic Service Centers (1980). A national listing. Rockville: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Health Services Administration, Bureau of Community Health Services.

  • Neel, J. V. (1958). The meaning of empiric risk figures for disease or defect. Proceedings of the heredity counseling symposium held at the New York Academy of Medicine Building (November 1, 1957). Eugenics Quarterly, 5, 38–40.

  • Neel, J. V. (1951). Some applications of the principles of genetics to the practice of medicine. Medical Clinics of North America, 35(2), 519–533.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neel, J. V. (1957). The functions of a department of genetics in a medical school. Journal of Medical Education, 3, 493–500.

    Google Scholar 

  • Normandin, S. (1998). Eugenics, McGill and the catholic church in montreal and Quebec, 1890–1942. Canadian Bulletin of Medical History/Bulletin Canadien d’histoire de la médecine, 15(1), 59–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paul, D. B. (1998). Eugenic origins of medical genetics. In: Paul, D. B., The politics of heredity: Essays on eugenics, biomedicine, and the nature-nurture debate. (pp. 133–156). State University of New York Press.

  • Reed, S. C. (1949). Counseling in human genetics. Dight Institute of the University of Minnesota Bulletin, 6, 7–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reed, S. C. (1951). Counseling in human genetics, part II. Dight Institute of the University of Minnesota Bulletin, 7, 6–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reed, S. C. (1953). Counseling in human genetics, part III. Dight Institute of the University of Minnesota Bulletin, 8, 10–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reed, S. C. (1955). Counseling in medical genetics. W. B. Saunders Company.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Reed, S. C. (1956). Heredity counseling: The role of the doctor. Eugenics Quarterly, 3(2), 106–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reed, S. C. (1963). Counseling in medical genetics (2nd ed.). W.B. Saunders Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Resta, R. G. (1993). The crane’s foot: The rise of the pedigree in human genetics. Journal of Genetic Counseling, 2(4), 235–260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riccardi, V. M. (1977). The genetic approach to human disease. Oxford University Press.

  • Riccardi, V. M., & Schmickel, R. D. (1988). ASHG activities relative to education: Human genetics as a component of medical school curricula: A report to the American society of human genetics. American Journal of Human Genetics, 42(4), 639–643.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rimoin, D. L., & Hirschhorn, K. (2004). A history of medical genetics in pediatrics. Pediatric Research, 56(1), 150–159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robbins, D., & Johnston, R. (1976). The role of cognitive and occupational differentiation in scientific controversies. Social Studies of Science, 6(3–4), 349–368.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robertson, G. G., & Haley, J. C. (1946). Genetics in the medical curriculum. Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, 21(6), 351–353.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rose, D. W. (2003). March of dimes. Arcadia Publishing.

  • Rosenberg, C. (1976). No other gods: On Science and American social thought. Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rushton, A. R. (1994). Genetics and medicine in the United States, 1800–1922. Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Selden, S. (2005). Transforming better babies into fitter families: Archival resources and the history of the American Eugenics movement, 1908–1930. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 149(2), 199–225.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sepe, S. J., Marks, J. S., Oakley, G. P., & Manley, A. F. (1982). Genetic services in the United States 1979–1980. Journal of the American Medical Association, 248(14), 1733–1735.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snyder, L. H. (1946). The principles of heredity (3rd ed.). D. C. Heath and Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soltan, H. C. (1992). Madge Macklin. In: H. C. Soltan (Ed.), Medical genetics in Canada. Evolution of a hybrid discipline: Essays on the early history. (pp. 11–26). University of Western Ontario, Regional Medical Genetics Centre.

  • Sorsby, A. (Ed.). (1953). Clinical genetics. Butterworth & Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stern, A. M. (2012). Telling genes: The story of genetic counseling in America. Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stern, A. M. (2015). Eugenic nation: Faults and frontiers of better breeding in modern America. University of California Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Strange, C., & Stephen, J. A. (2010). Eugenics in Canada: A checkered history, 1850s–1990s. In A. Bashford & P. Levine (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of the history of Eugenics. (pp. 523–538). Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Subcommittee on Objectives of Teaching, Association of American Medical Colleges (1955). The teaching of pathology, microbiology, immunology, genetics. Journal of Medical Education, 30 (Suppl., Sept. 1955), 1–23.

  • WHO Technical Report Series No. 238 (1962). The teaching of genetics in the undergraduate medical curriculum and in postgraduate training. World Health Organization.

  • WHO Technical Report Series No. 282 (1964). Human genetics and public health. World Health Organization.

  • WHO Technical Report Series No. 416 (1969). Genetic counselling. World Health Organization.

  • WHO Technical Report Series No. 497 (1972). Genetic disorders: Prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation. World Health Organization

  • Thompson, V. A. (1964). Modern organization. Knopf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turda, M., & Gillette, A. (2014). Latin eugenics in comparative perspective. Bloomsbury Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weisz, G. (2006). Divide and conquer: A comparative history of medical specialization. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zeesman, S., & Creighton, S. (2000). The CAGC: A history in progress. Unpublished document circulated within the Canadian Association of Genetic Counsellors.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Liberal Arts & Science, OCAD University, 100 McCaul Street, Toronto, ON, M5T 1W1, Canada

    William Leeming

Authors
  1. William Leeming
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to William Leeming.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Leeming, W. Toward a comparative history of medical genetics as a medical specialty in North America. HPLS 44, 42 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40656-022-00519-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40656-022-00519-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation