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The NBE curriculum list, reproduced exactly, plus the editions residents actually read in 2026 — with journals, a year-wise reading plan, and the references you will need for your thesis and exit practical.
Doing the DM instead? The same superspecialty is covered at DM Medical Genetics books.
These 19 titles are reproduced as they appear in the National Board of Examinations curriculum document for Medical Genetics — spelling and abbreviations included. Treat it as the scope anchor, not as a shopping list.
Source: National Board of Examinations curriculum document for Medical Genetics
The books most residents actually buy. These are the editions in circulation now, with a note on whether each is something you read through, keep as a reference, or open only for the viva.
Journal club and the recent-advances parts of the theory paper come from here. You do not need all of them — follow one Indian and two international titles properly.
Three years of superspecialty training goes faster than it sounds, and most of it is spent on the floor. The order below is what works for most DrNB Medical Genetics residents.
Read Thompson & Thompson and Strachan and Read to build the molecular base, learn pedigree and risk calculation from Harper, and start Smith's for dysmorphology. Register the thesis.
Move to Emery and Rimoin for clinical depth, Saudubray during metabolic postings, and Gardner and Amor during cytogenetics; work daily with ACMG criteria and GeneReviews.
Add Milunsky for prenatal genetics, revise selectively, drill dysmorphology photographs, karyotypes and NGS reports, and practise counselling role-play and timed short notes.
Protocol, methodology and reporting standards examiners expect you to have followed.
Cases, spotters and stations that come up again and again in the exit exam.
DrNB Medical Genetics theory is three papers of 100 marks each over three hours per paper, written as short notes, with 150/300 to pass, and a 300-mark practical after theory using clinical cases and/or OSCE with viva. The practical is unusually station-based: dysmorphology spots, pedigree and risk calculation, laboratory report interpretation and a genetic counselling role-play are standard.
The National Board of Examinations curriculum for Medical Genetics lists 19 titles, beginning with Alberts B, Johnson A, Lewis J, Morgan D, Roberts K, Walter P. Molecular Biology of the Cell. 6th ed. 2014. Garland.. The full list is reproduced on this page exactly as it is published.
Thompson & Thompson Genetics and Genomics in Medicine by Nussbaum, McInnes, Willard is the usual anchor. The standard entry text and the backbone of theory preparation.
DrNB Medical Genetics is a superspecialty course taken after a broad-specialty MD, MS or DNB, so the reading is narrower and deeper. The broad-specialty texts are assumed knowledge by the time you start.
No. Most residents own two or three and use the department or library copy for the rest. That is exactly why printing selected chapters from a PDF works out cheaper than buying volumes you will open twice.
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