Houghton graduated from the
University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada with a MSc (1996) for her thesis titled "The Influence of Dietary Fiber on the Folate Status of a Group of Adolescent Females". Following graduation, she worked at
Acadia University as assistant professor, at
The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto before moving to the United States to work at
Abbott Laboratories in the Premature Infant Nutrition division. Houghton moved to New Zealand in 2008 to take up a lecturing role at the University of Otago. In December 2019 she, along with two of her colleagues
Rachel Brown and
Caroline Horwath, was promoted to full professor with effect from 1 February 2020. She combines her academic role with that of director of the
World Health Organization Collaborating Centre in Human Nutrition. == Selected works ==