Rate My Professor Liz Houghton

Lisa A. Houghton is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Human Nutrition at the University of Otago, joining the department in 2008 and promoted to full Professor in 2020. She completed her undergraduate and MSc degrees at the University of Guelph, Canada, followed by clinical dietetic training at McMaster Health Sciences Centre and a PhD in Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto. Prior to her appointment at Otago, Houghton served as an Assistant Professor at Acadia University, Research Associate at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, and member of the Premature Infant Nutrition research group at Abbott Laboratories in the United States. She is a member of the American Society of Nutrition, the International Society for Research on Human Milk and Lactation, and the Otago Global Health Institute Leadership Group. In 2024, she was appointed to the board of Food Standards Australia New Zealand.

Houghton's research specializes in community and international nutrition, focusing on the assessment of micronutrient deficiencies and their health consequences in vulnerable populations, particularly maternal and young child undernutrition. Her work includes nutritional assessments of infants, young children, and mothers in Indonesia, Kenya, and India, examining the impact of infant and young child feeding practices on diet quality, gut microbiota, growth, and morbidity. She investigates complementary feeding home-fortification strategies, such as using desiccated beef powder, to improve growth and development, and has developed field-friendly biomarker tools for exclusive breastfeeding assessment. Key publications include "The case against ergocalciferol (vitamin D2) as a vitamin supplement" (2006), "Long-term vitamin D3 supplementation is more effective than vitamin D2 in maintaining serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D status over the winter months" (2013), "Micronutrient status and risk of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in Indonesian tuberculosis case contacts" (2025), "Effects of variations in atmospheric temperature and humidity on the estimation of exclusive breastfeeding status using the deuterium oxide dose-to-mother technique" (2023), and "Impact of milk secretor status on the fecal metabolome and microbiota of breastfed infants" (2023).