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17 Jul 2025
Health ministers have approved genetic pathology as a new field of specialty practice, within the existing specialty of pathology.
It is the first time in 15 years that a new specialty has been approved for inclusion on the List of specialties, fields of specialty practice and related specialist titles for the medical profession.
The path to recognition of a new medical specialty is rigorous, involving detailed assessment by the Australian Medical Council (AMC), public consultation, a recommendation by the Medical Board of Australia and approval by Ministerial Council.
The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA) proposed the recognition, demonstrating to the AMC, the Medical Board and health ministers that there is a public benefit in government intervention (regulation) and that existing arrangements or alternative non-regulatory options were unsatisfactory. Ministers approved genetic pathology as a new field of specialty practice in June 2025.
The AMC can now assess training programs in genetic pathology for accreditation, ahead of the Medical Board deciding whether to approve qualifications for the purposes of specialist registration.
Once there is an approved qualification, medical practitioners with the approved qualification in genetic pathology can apply to the Board for specialist registration in genetic pathology.
Only medical practitioners with specialist registration in genetic pathology can use the protected title ‘specialist genetic pathologist’.
More information on the process for the recognition of medical specialties is available in the AMC’s and Medical Board’s Guidelines for the Recognition of Medical Specialties and Fields of Specialty Practice under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law.
