Our graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in genomics are highly motivated individuals who want to make a difference for the benefit of future generations. Interdisciplinary work is the norm, with projects requiring sophistication at the lab bench and at the computer, for generation and analysis of the massive datasets that are typical for genomics.

While faculty act as advisers, and set the overall direction of research at the Center and in their labs, graduate students and postdocs work together with staff to actually produce the results that get published in the scientific literature. A small but important fraction of these results get converted into intellectual property or translated into medical advances, or both. To keep up innovation and productivity, the Center is dedicated to recruiting the best students and postdocs from all over the world (visit our Biosciences Department).

The Center is part of one of the first training programs in genomics, the NIH-funded Stanford Genome Training Program, founded in 1996. The SGTP currently supports 25 Ph.D. students and five postdoctoral fellows. In addition to this NIH-supported program, many students in genomics receive highly competitive internal or external fellowships, such as NSF (National Science Foundation) fellowships or Stanford Graduate Fellowships (SGF).

Genetic counselors are health care professionals who work closely with specialist physicians and their patients to help explain conditions that have a genetic basis. Counselors advise patients who are at risk of genetic diseases, and assist physicians in selecting the proper genetic test and interpreting the results.

Our state of the art training program includes coursework in molecular genetics, a range of clinical areas, psychology and counseling skills. The program also includes a significant clinical training component. All students complete a research project, typically assessing the impact of genetic counseling or clinical genetics on patients and treatments. Program graduates are usually employed in medical centers, or commercial or academic laboratories. More information can be found by visiting Stanford's Master's Program in Genetic Counseling.

Stanford’s strength as a top-ranking medical school with an emphasis on basic research ensures that medical students are exposed to the latest advances in genomics.

Faculty of clinical departments (including but not limited to Medicine, Pathology, and Radiation Biology) that are associated with the Center teach in a wide array of medical student courses.

Residents in relevant medical disciplines learn to interpret genomic data as part of their residency training, and departments affiliated with the Center have begun to weave genomics and personalized medicine into their continuing education curriculum. For more information, visit Stanford's Medical Education Program.