Hilary Graham

Hilary Graham has many interests that could have led to potential professions outside the realms of science. “I’m a grazer,” she says. “I like a lot of things, but biology was the best career path for me.”
  
A native of Santa Clarita, Calif., Graham is an avid horsewoman and animal lover, which at one point led her to consider a career in veterinary medicine. After a high school job at a vet‘s office, she realized she wouldn’t enjoy the occupation because of how poorly some people treat their pets. “You have to deal with a lot of people, and not just the animals so I’d rather just do science,” she says.
  
Graham attended the University of California at Davis for her undergraduate biochemistry major, and briefly considered a career in competitive horse polo before driving with her horse and dog to Austin to obtain her PhD in cell and molecular biology. She chose UT because of Austin‘s progressive politics and CMB large program size, which allows her to sample different aspects of science that might interest her.
  
“I like biology because I’m curious and it allows me to explore,” she says. “You can go to work and think, ‘I wonder what I’ll find out today.’”
  
In Theresa O’Halloran’s lab Graham works on adaptors of clathrin mediated endocytosis in the social soil ameboa Dictyostelium discoideum, which studies how and why the organisms travel certain directions. She chose O’Halloran’s lab because of its positive, sociable culture, which motivates her to work hard. She also appreciate that her coworkers are from all over the world, have many interests outside the lab and are well-rounded.
  
“One potential downside to getting a PhD is that you become an expert in one specific area and your knowledge of many other things is not fostered,” Graham says. “This can lead to narrowness of knowledge.”
  
Graham says potential PhD students will find success in the program if they have good communication skills, self-motivation and are open to advice, especially from senior students for whom much of the research is still fresh in their minds.
  
“Get outside the lab whenever you can,” she says. “Work effectively so you have more time to play.”
  
Graham’s goals at UT and in her future career are straightforward. “I’m not one of those people who’s like, ‘I want to save the world and cure AIDS,” Graham says. “I don’t have some grand accomplishment as a goal. I just want to enjoy life and enjoy work.”
  
Working part-time at a biotech company is a prospective career path for Graham. “I just want to make enough money to do the things I like,“ she says.
  
This semester Graham is a teaching assistant for “HIV For Non-Majors.” She’s previously been a TA and enjoys teaching and encouraging students to enjoy science. “So many people are terrified of science like it’s this boogeyman that’s going to kill you,” she says. “But there’s so much science integrated into culture. If you read the newspapers there’s stem cells, AIDS and flu so it’s important that every person understand something about it. You can’t insulate yourself from science.”

Hilary Graham