Our Team

Dr. Lauren C. Houghton is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Her work focuses on how gender, hormones, and culture intersect to impact health. In particular, Dr. Houghton is a leading expert on the hormonal regulation of puberty and menses, and the relationship between gender-affirming hormone therapy and breast/chest cancer risk.

Central to all her work is an argument that says health and culture are inextricably intertwined. This is why she adopts a “mixed-method” approach that values equally the quantitative analyses of molecular epidemiology and the qualitative aspect of anthropology. 

Her research spans diverse populations, including extensive studies with migrant communities and school children from Bangladesh to the UK , parents in New York City, as well as populations in the Costa Rica, Mexico and Mongolia.

Dr. Houghton is currently the principal investigator of two significant studies: Free Time 4 Wellness and Sexual and Gender Minority Health.

Free Time 4 Wellness delivers and evaluates a co-designed intervention, by mothers for mothers, that helps mothers hurdle the barriers to fitness opportunities, including access to childcare.

Sexual and Gender Minority Health analyzes hormone use and the steroid metabolome to better inform breast/chest cancer screening.

Dr. Houghton earned her Bachelor of Arts from Ithaca College, followed by a Master of Science from Durham University, a PhD from Durham University, and post-doctoral training at the National Cancer Institute. She is the recipient of the NCI Director’s Innovation Award.