Publications & Media

Featured Publications

Sexual and Gender Minority Health Study

Michelle Lui, Walter Bockting, Kenrick Cato & Lauren C. Houghton (2024) Prevalence and predictors of cancer screening in transgender and gender nonbinary individuals, International Journal of Transgender Health, DOI: 10.1080/26895269.2023.2294493

Kosher RBD, Houghton LC, Winkler IT. MANstruation: A cyberethnography of linguistic strategies of trans and nonbinary menstruators. Soc Sci Med. 2023 Jul;328:115974. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115974. Epub 2023 May 19. PMID: 37269746.

Free Time 4 Wellness Study

Jones C, Gibbons M, Magsamen-Conrad K, Ulanday KT, Watterson J, Oakley-Girvan I, Houghton LC and Gokal K*. "Mother's Health and Well-Being Matters: Is a Mediated Social Cohesion Public Health Intervention Feasible?” Am J Health Promot. 2021 Dec 15:8901171211055317. doi: 10.1177/08901171211055317. PMID: 34907785.

Houghton LC, Gibbons MP, Shekelle J, Oakley-Girvan I, Watterson JL, Magsamen-Conrad K, Jones C, Gokal K. Free Time For Wellness: a co-designed intervention utilizing social networks to encourage physical activity for cancer prevention among low resourced mothers. BMC Public Health. 2021 Oct 7;21(1):1805. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-11775-9. PMID: 34620141; PMCID: PMC8499394.

Oakley-Girvan I, Watterson J, Jones C, Houghton L, Gibbons M, Gokal K, Magsamen-Conrad K. Use of Social Media for Cancer Prevention Through Neighborhood Social Cohesion: Protocol for a Feasibility Study. JMIR Res Protoc 2021;10(7):e28147. DOI: 10.2196/28147

Menstruation Research

Houghton LC. Menstruation as the Next Vital Sign. JAMA Netw Open. 2024 May 1;7(5):e2412778. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.12778. PMID: 38809558.

Kosher RBD, Houghton LC, Winkler IT. MANstruation: A cyberethnography of linguistic strategies of trans and nonbinary menstruators. Soc Sci Med. 2023 Jul;328:115974. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115974. Epub 2023 May 19. PMID: 37269746.

Houghton LC, Elhadad N. Practice Note: ‘If Only All Women Menstruated Exactly Two Weeks Ago’: Interdisciplinary Challenges and Experiences of Capturing Hormonal Variation Across the Menstrual Cycle. 2020 Jul 25. In: Bobel C, Winkler IT, Fahs B, Hasson KA, Kissling EA, Roberts TA, editors. The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Menstruation Studies [Internet]. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan; 2020. Chapter 53. PMID: 33347191.

Puberty Research

Houghton LC. Why We Need More Biocultural Studies of Pubertal Timing. J Adolesc Health. 2021 Jul;69(1):4-5. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.04.013. PMID: 34172142.

Houghton LC, Wei Y, Wang T, Goldberg M, Paniagua-Avila A, Sweeden RL, Bradbury A, Daly M, Schwartz LA, Keegan T, John EM, Knight JA, Andrulis IL, Buys SS, Frost CJ, O'Toole K, White ML, Chung WK, Terry MB. Body mass index rebound and pubertal timing in girls with and without a family history of breast cancer: the LEGACY girls study. Int J Epidemiol. 2022 Oct 13;51(5):1546-1555. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyac021. PMID: 35157067; PMCID: PMC9799198.

Houghton LC, Knight JA, Wei Y, Romeo RD, Goldberg M, Andrulis IL, Bradbury AR, Buys SS, Daly MB, John EM, Chung WK, Santella RM, Stanczyk FZ, Terry MB. Association of Prepubertal and Adolescent Androgen Concentrations With Timing of Breast Development and Family History of Breast Cancer. JAMA Netw Open. 2019 Feb 1;2(2):e190083. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.0083. PMID: 30794303; PMCID: PMC6484611.

Houghton LC, Troisi R, Sommer M, Katki HA, Booth M, Choudhury OA, Hampshire KR. "I'm not a freshi": Culture shock, puberty and growing up as British-Bangladeshi girls. Soc Sci Med. 2020 Aug;258:113058. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113058. Epub 2020 May 21. PMID: 32504913; PMCID: PMC7369632.

Breast/Chest Cancer Research

Ulanday KT, Topaz M, Shekelle J, Gibbons M, Walker D, Castaño PM, Nixon A, Lewis S, Terry MB, Houghton LC. Cancers missed, women dismissed yet persist: natural language processing of online forums. Breast Cancer Res. 2025 May 13;27(1):78. doi: 10.1186/s13058-025-01985-z. PMID: 40361232; PMCID: PMC12076973.

Lauren C. Houghton, Renata E. Howland, Ying Wei, Xinran Ma, Rebecca D. Kehm, Wendy K. Chung, Jeanine M. Genkinger, Regina M. Santella, Michaela F. Hartmann, Stefan A. Wudy, Mary Beth Terry; The Steroid Metabolome and Breast Cancer Risk in Women with a Family History of Breast Cancer: The Novel Role of Adrenal Androgens and Glucocorticoids. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 1 January 2021; 30 (1): 89–96. https://doi.org/10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-20-0471(link is external and opens in a new window)

Houghton LC, Ganmaa D, Rosenberg PS, Davaalkham D, Stanczyk FZ, Hoover RN, Troisi R. Associations of Breast Cancer Risk Factors with Premenopausal Sex Hormones in Women with Very Low Breast Cancer Risk. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2016 Oct 31;13(11):1066. doi: 10.3390/ijerph13111066. PMID: 27809264; PMCID: PMC5129276.

Girls in the US are getting their periods earlier. Here’s what parents should know.
By Maria Godoy - National Public Radio
Weekend Edition, June 2, 2024

Periods are starting younger and we're struggling to pin down why
By Grace Wade - New Scientist
June 3, 2024

The new menstruation: Girls are getting their periods earlier and less regularly
Annalisa Merelli - Stat
May 29, 2024

Why are so many younger adults getting cancer?
David J. Craig
Columbia Magazine, Spring/Summer 2025 print edition

Why are girls starting puberty earlier?
The Week, June 10, 2024

A generation at risk: Is early puberty the new public health crisis?
Recon News, June 6, 2024

We’re More Honest With Our Phones Than With Our Doctors
By Jenna Worthman - The New York Times
NY Times Mag, March 27, 2016

How This Period Tracking App Is Helping Scientists Fight Disease
By Susan Price 
Fortune, December 14, 2015