The entire first year is dedicated to pediatrics training. Children's Hospital Boston and Boston Medical Center are the primary training locations for pediatrics. In years 2 through 4, trainees alternate every 6 months between pediatrics and medical genetics. The fifth and final year is dedicated to research in the trainee's area of interest in medical genetics. The curriculum is designed to assure a cohesive, planned educational experience which integrates pediatrics and medical genetics throughout the training program.

The Pediatrics training in the combined program is designed to assure that the resident is competent in caring for infants, children, and adolescents. Fifty percent of this training is in an ambulatory setting including rotations in oncology, adolescent medicine, child development, well baby nursery, emergency medicine, gastroenterology, pulmonary, and renal medicine. There is additional training in general pediatrics inpatient care, neonatal ICU, ICU, intermediate care, pediatric continuity clinic, and behavioral/developmental pediatrics. Residents attend a weekly pediatrics continuity clinic during pediatric rotations and biweekly during genetic rotations.

Twelve months are spent receiving formal training in medical genetics. This entails seeing patients both on the inpatient consult service and in the outpatient clinic. Three of the Children's Hospital Boston months are spent on the inpatient consultation service. This service covers both general genetics and inborn errors of metabolism. The remaining three months are spent attending outpatient clinics including general genetics clinic, metabolism clinic, and subspecialty clincs: cardiology, craniofacial, skeletal dysplasia, connective tissue, and neurofibromatosis.

The inpatient and outpatient months are alternated during the three month blocks. The patient population at Children's Hospital is primarily pediatric. Three months are spent at Massachusetts General Hospital covering both the inpatient consult service and attending general genetics clinics, prenatal genetics clinic, Prader Willi clinic, Fragile X clinic and Huntington disease clinic. The patient population at Massachusetts General Hospital includes both children and adults. Three months are spent at Brigham and Women's Hospital covering both the inpatient service and adult genetics clinic. Time is spent learning prenatal genetics in their Maternal Fetal Medicine Center. During these three months, residents also go to Dana Farber Cancer Institute (located just next door to Brigham and Women's Hospital) where they attend weekly colon and breast cancer clinics. The patient population during this rotation is only adult. One and one half months are spent at one of several affiliated laboratories.

The resident spends 2 weeks each in a molecular genetics laboratory, a biochemical laboratory, and a cytogenetics laboratory. After the 12 months of genetics rotations, one clinic will then serve as a continuity clinic for the remainder of the program. Residents attend this continuity clinic biweekly during the laboratory rotations and research months (18 months). The remaining medical genetics blocks are spent pursuing a mentored medical genetics research project.

Integration of the two training programs occurs at several different levels. Pediatric continuity clinic continues during the genetics months. There are several weekly seminars that the resident will attend, time permitting. There is a weekly Advanced Fetal Care Conference attended by neonatology and medical genetics faculty. There is a weekly pediatrics case conference and a weekly pediatrics grand rounds that are attended by both the pediatrics and medical genetics faculty. When the resident is completing an inpatient medical genetics consultation month, he or she will be interacting with their pediatrics residency peers in a teaching and an advisory role.

The research project, while primarily focused on a medical genetics question, is expected to either directly or indirectly benefit children. The co-directors of the combined residency, Dr. Amy Roberts (Medical Genetics) and Dr. Ted Sectish (Pediatrics) will together have an advisory role with the resident and this will allow for an integrated training and mentorship. The research can be completed anywhere in the Harvard Medical School system, according to interest and the availability of a mentor.