On 5 October 2017, Janet A. Houghton MRPharmS, aged 65, of Birmingham, Alabama, USA. Dr Houghton registered with the Society in 1974.
Houghton received a Ph.D. from the University of London in 1977. Following her move to the USA later that year, she took up a post at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. During her 29 years at St Jude’s, Houghton’s research contributed to the development of what would become the standard treatment for colorectal cancer in the 1980s.
In 2006, she became chair of the Department of Cancer Biology at the Lerner Research Institute and chair of the Betsy B. DeWindt endowed chair for cancer research, both at Cleveland Clinic. Her research at Cleveland Clinic focused on adult colorectal cancer.
In 2015, Houghton was appointed as distinguished fellow and Emil Hess endowed chair of cancer biology in the Division of Drug Discovery, Southern Research Institute, Birmingham, Alabama.
Houghton was senior editor of Cancer Research between 2002 and 2015, and had been assistant editor between 1997 and 2002. Her work was published in more than 145 peer-reviewed scientific publications and 10 book chapters throughout her career.