He is the CEO of CSIRO[1] and immediate past Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia.

His research has focused on cytokines, signal transduction pathways and the regulation of blood cell formation (hematopoiesis).

His Honours and PhD research projects were conducted with Professors Don Metcalf and Nicos Nicola at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, and resulted in the cloning of the cytokine Leukemia Inhibitory Factor (LIF).

[4] Hilton spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow studying the erythropoietin (EPO) receptor with Professor Harvey Lodish at the Whitehead Institute, MIT, USA.

In recent years, together with Professor Warren Alexander and Dr Benjamin Kile, Hilton has established a new program using large-scale mouse genetics and genomics to identify regulators of blood cell formation, with a view to determining targets for the development of new medicines.