Lilly Hurtado is Research Director in Oncology at Private Health Management
In this Career Conversation, Dr. Lilly Hurtado, Research Director in Oncology, shares how her passion for biology and a deeply personal connection to cancer led her from undergraduate research at Texas A&M into a career focused on helping patients with complex cancer diagnoses. She describes a non-linear path that includes plant genetics, cancer biology, brain and immune system research, a data-focused startup, and running a large cancer research program for the U.S. Department of Defense before moving into her current patient-facing, clinical decision-support role.
Dr. Hurtado explains how she now works “part detective, part translator,” synthesizing medical records, genetic data, and cutting-edge research to help multidisciplinary care teams identify treatment options and clinical trials while communicating those choices clearly to patients and families. Along the way, she offers students practical advice on using internships as “test drives” for different careers, learning from missteps, building networks and mentorship, and staying curious in the face of uncertainty so that science becomes not just discovery, but service.