Oral History Collection

Bettie Graham

Bettie Jean Graham, Ph.D., is the former director of the NHGRI Division of Extramural Operations. As one of the longest serving employees in the history of NHGRI's Extramural Research Program, Dr. Graham’s impact on the institute and the genomics community writ large are hard to overstate. During her 50-year long career as a public servant, Dr. Graham amassed a wealth of institutional, professional and scientific wisdom, which she graciously shares in this half-hour interview. Dr. Graham recounts her early years at NIH as a grants associate for the National Eye Institute (NEI) before transitioning to the center now known as NHGRI, where she was one of the few scientists of color involved in genomics at the time. She also recounts her efforts at NHGRI to increase equity and diversity in both genomics funding and in the genomics workforce and shares advice for those carrying on this important work into the future.