CVMM Rising Stars: Meet Dr Lauren Houston

After being awarded the National Heart Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, Dr Houston was featured on Nine News, sharing her pioneering work to assess women’s heart disease risk during routine mammograms. Wonderful achievement, Lauren!
 

Tell us a bit about yourself!  

I’m a Senior Research Fellow at The George Institute for Global Health and a Conjoint Lecturer at UNSW Sydney. My work focuses on women’s heart health, cardiometabolic conditions like diabetes and kidney disease, and cardio-oncology — all with the goal of improving prevention and care for diverse communities.

What’s your research all about, and what’s the most exciting part for you?   

My research is all about finding better ways to predict and prevent heart disease in women. I’m exploring “two-for-one” screening by using routine mammograms to also check heart health, working on ways to protect cancer survivors from heart problems, and creating tools that reflect women’s unique risk factors. I’m also involved in large clinical trials, including START, the Renal Lifecycle CMR sub-study, and OPTIMAR-HEART. The most exciting part for me is teaming up with different experts and community members to design research that makes a real difference, research that can shift guidelines and improve women’s health.

Is there a recent achievement that you’d like to share?

I was awarded a Heart Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship to support my project testing whether routine mammograms can also help identify women at risk of heart disease. I was inspired by the opportunity to use an existing, trusted service to close the gap in women receiving Heart Health Checks.

As an ECR, what’s been one of your biggest challenges, and how did you tackle it?  

One of my biggest challenges has been managing career progression alongside maternity leave and part-time return to work. I tackled this by carefully planning project milestones, securing grant funding to support research assistants during my leave, and building strong collaborations with colleagues and consumer partners. This team-based approach has ensured my projects continue to progress, while also allowing me to balance my personal and professional commitments.

What activities keep you inspired and energised?  

I love working with early-career colleagues and mentoring students, their enthusiasm always inspires me. Outside of work, life is very busy with my two daughters and our dog. As a family, we enjoy spending time outdoors, which keeps me active and gives me a fresh perspective.