Graham Hatfull

Graham F. Hatfull is the Eberly Family Professor of Biotechnology at the University of Pittsburgh, where he studies bacteriophages. He has been an HHMI professor since 2002, and is the creator of their SEA-PHAGES program. In 2024, he was elected as a permanent member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Life and career Hatfull studied biological sciences at Westfield College, University of London from 1975 to 1978. He received his PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 1981. he developed the SEA-PHAGES, originally the PHIRE (Phage Hunters Integrating Research and Education) program, which he originally developed to include 10-12 students per year. with more than 50,000 total students having participated by 2025.

Much of Hatfull's research focuses on understanding and characterizing bacteriophages, which has led to using phage therapies to treat Mycobacterium infections in some patients.

He is also the winner of the 2013 Carski Foundation Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award and the 2020 Peter Wildy Prize.

In 2024, Hatfull was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. According to the Academy "[members] are elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Membership is a widely accepted mark of excellence in science and is considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive. Current NAS membership totals approximately 2,400 members and 500 international members, of which approximately 190 have received Nobel prizes." He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2025.