May 13, 2010
When Hillary Hager Carter receives her ceremonial “hood” during Commencement exercises May 14 for earning a Ph.D. in cell and developmental biology, it will mark the culmination of her decade-long journey at Vanderbilt – one that she describes as a series of opportunities granted to her by a network of Vanderbilt faculty and professionals.
But anyone who’s worked with Hillary would credit her own talent and hard work as integral to that journey as well.
An all-state basketball player from Franklin, Pa., Hillary first came to Vanderbilt to attend basketball camp the summer before her senior year of high school. Later that summer, then-Vanderbilt women’s coach Jim Foster invited her back to campus as a potential recruit. Knowing she had an interest in science, Foster introduced her to his friend David Bader, a longtime Vanderbilt Athletics supporter and the Gladys P. Stahlman Professor of Medicine and Cell Biology, so the two could discuss the university’s academic offerings.
“I knew basketball was something I was going to do in college, but I really wanted to go to a good school and do well there, because I knew that would set me up for the rest of my life,” Hillary said. She enrolled at Vanderbilt in the fall of 2000.
From the outside, the balance that scholar-athletes strike between their classroom work and team responsibilities seems nearly impossible. How do they do it?
“It really takes discipline, but once you’re in it, it’s easier to do,” Hillary explained. “When you only have a certain amount of time to get your studying done, you’re more productive in that set amount of time.
“In season we would get up, lift weights, go to class, come back and get ready for practice. We would practice for three hours or so, go eat together and study together at night,” she said. “Your team is your family. You spend a lot of time with them, and there’s not a lot of time for extra social stuff during the season, but that’s OK. You’re with this group of people that you love, and you’re getting to do something that you love – play basketball. It was a great experience.”
Hillary made the most of her undergraduate years. She majored in neuroscience and was a starting guard and two-time captain of the women’s team, which won the SEC tournament twice – in 2002 and 2004 – during her tenure. She garnered numerous classroom awards and regional and team honors, including the Commodore Award, given to the most valuable player. Hillary graduated with a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience that spring.
Following graduation, Melanie Balcomb (who became Vanderbilt’s head coach in 2002) offered Hillary a graduate assistant coaching position with the women’s team. The offer helped her decide to apply to Vanderbilt’s Ph.D. program in cell and developmental biology. She made a call to Bader, with whom she had stayed in contact, and he offered her a research position in his lab.
For the next two years Hillary maintained the balance between athletics and academics, serving as a graduate assistant coach for women’s basketball and a graduate assistant to Bader, who conducts pioneering research on a protein called blood vessel/epicardial substance – Bves for short – and its role in vesicular transport.
“To break that down into layman’s terms, vesicular transport is how things get from the inside of the cell to the outside of the cell – how the cell communicates with its external environment,” Hillary said.
“During development – we study frog development – it’s very important for all of these processes to happen in the right time frame,” she said. “If they don’t, you could have a number of developmental abnormalities. So we study a specific part of frog development and how our protein is important in that process.” Though the research is in its early stages – Bves was discovered just a decade ago in Bader’s lab – it could one day lead to a better understanding of the pathways of certain diseases, including cancer.
In 2006, Hillary took a leave of absence from the graduate program to realize a lifelong dream. With Bader’s blessing, she played basketball professionally in Europe with Point Chaud Sprimont, a Belgian team.
“I was fortunate enough that my mentor said, `This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Go do it. You can come back to our lab when you’re done,'” she said.
Hillary returned to Vanderbilt in May 2007 with a renewed focus on her graduate work. She successfully defended her dissertation, titled “Analysis of Bves Function in Vesicular Transport and Cell Morphology,” in November.
In addition to serving as her graduate adviser, Bader is a longtime fan of Hillary’s on and off the court.
“When I think about Hillary and how she has impacted the progress in my lab, it’s kind of like her playing days in basketball,” he said. “You couldn’t quite figure out what she was best at. She could shoot, defend, pass and play off the ball, but nothing really stood out. Then you realized that nothing stood out because everything was done so well.
“The same is true of Hillary as a scholar. She is highly intelligent, a great bench scientist, a clear and thoughtful writer, and a willing colleague. On top of that, she’s an excellent teacher and the nicest person you’d ever want to meet,” Bader said. “I quit trying to figure out what she’s best at and decided just to enjoy her company.”
Last August, Hillary married Matt Carter, a 2003 Vanderbilt graduate who played for the men’s basketball team. Commencement day will be a momentous one for the Hager-Carter family. Not only will Hillary receive her Ph.D. during the Graduate School ceremony, but Matt also will receive his J.D. from Vanderbilt Law School.
Commencement is truly a time of new beginnings for the couple, who will relocate to Washington, D.C. Hillary has been awarded a science policy fellowship by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and Matt will intern with the House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill.
“Next year I’ll be working for the State Department on issues of biosecurity,” Hillary said. “It’s definitely much different than what I’ve been doing at the bench, but it’s an area I’m very interested in and an opportunity I’m really excited about.
“We are sad to leave Nashville, because we’ve lived here for so long,” she said. “We love the city and we love the people, but sometimes it is time to move on, and maybe we’ll come back later.”
Hillary said she is grateful for each step of her journey, and for the guidance she’s received along the way.
“I’m so appreciative of Coach Balcomb for giving me the opportunity to be the graduate assistant coach. Without that opportunity, I don’t think I would have gone to grad school in the same capacity that I did,” she said. “And I’m so appreciative of David for allowing me to be in his lab as a grad student while also being a GA. I don’t think many mentors would allow this to happen.
“I couldn’t have been more lucky, I feel, to have met the people that I’ve met. I feel that’s what’s made the experience so great – the friends and professional colleagues I’ve made. It’s just been amazing.”
Photo by Steve Green
