Hillman honored with Early Career Achievement Award
The McGovern Medical School Alumni Association and the Office of Alumni Engagement have named Paul Hillman, MD, PhD, Residency ’19, as the recipient of the 2025 Early Career Achievement Award.
“It is humbling to receive this award coming from an institution with the reputation and size of McGovern Medical School,” Hillman said. “Although I honestly feel that no one enters the field of medicine for accolades or recognition, they are certainly meaningful and give something to reflect on the hard days, which everyone knows we have. It is truly wonderful to be recognized for the hard work, effort, and long hours that have shaped my early career.”
The Early Career Achievement Award honors alumni of McGovern Medical School who have exhibited excellence and significant career contributions in the areas of medical science and education from the completion of their residency or fellowship through their first eight years of practice.
Hillman is an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics. He joined the McGovern Medical School faculty in July 2019 after completing his residency and internship training in the Department of Pediatrics in June of that year. He is also an associate member of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
“It is an honor to win this award, in no small part because my first-choice residency was here at McGovern,” Hillman said. “In fact, I was sitting in the labor room at Memorial Hermann as my wife was about to give birth to our twins when the email came in. I was thrilled at being offered a faculty position to stay at McGovern after completing my residency and remain a part of the McGovern family.”
Though his career is in its early stages, Hillman has already garnered a plethora of awards. He has been named a Top Doctor in Medical Genetics and Pediatric Medical Genetics by Houstonia Magazine in 2024 and 2025. He was granted the McGovern Medical School Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award each year from 2020 to 2024 before reaching Esteemed Educator status for the award in 2025.
Hillman is a holder of A Noble Journey Endowment for Lysosomal Storage Disorders since December 2024. He was awarded The ACMG Foundation/Shire Laboratory Geneticist Fellowship Awards and Clinical Genetics Residency Program Institutional Award in 2017 and the North American Metabolic Academy Scholarship in 2018.
At McGovern Medical School, Hillman lectures both first- and second-year students in Foundations of Medicine Block 1 and Topics in Medical Genetics I and II. He also teaches the Pediatric Residency Academic Half-Day course and mentors medical genetics residents and medical genetics summer research scholars.
Hilman thanked his wife, Elizabeth Hillman, MD, MEd, associate professor of neonatal-perinatal medicine, who he said was just as deserving of the award if not more so.
“She was here first and likely aided in my getting here to begin with,” he said. “She is my best friend, love of my life, and constant source of support. I would not be here without her.”
Hillman also thanked Hope Northrup, MD, for being a mentor for over a decade, as well as Michelle Barratt, MD, MPH, and Kim Smith, MD, MPH, who supported him as pediatric continuity clinic attendings. He also thanked the entire Division of Medical Genetics.
“Medicine is a team sport, and nothing can happen without a good team,” Hillman said. “Medical Genetics has the best team of trainees, genetic counselors, dieticians, physicians, nurses, medical assistants, and research coordinators around.”