General Info

Dr. Houston graduated Magna Cum Laude from the State University of New York with a BS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. She was always fascinated with the potential for targeted gene therapy and this was the focus of her senior thesis, in 2003- the year the human genome project was completed. Before graduating from Albany Medical College in upstate New York, she worked for the Ordway Research institute applying proteomics and genomics in order to better understand metabolic syndrome. Although her passion was in genetics and molecular biology, medicine was not advanced enough at that time, and there was no medical specialty in this field, so she decided to pursue Emergency Medicine. As a board-certified Emergency Physician, Dr. Houston worked in the emergency setting treating life threating issues for almost 10 years. She was there for people during their darkest moments and alleviated suffering during life-threatening situations. During this time she not only cared for patients with medical emergencies but she connected with them on a personal level. She knew that these interactions had a profound impact on the quality of care she gave. She often wondered how she could have made a difference if she had met her patients before they had suffered strokes, heart attacks, drug overdoses, suicide attempts, and violence. Although she enjoyed the high-intensity work, and high-level problem solving required, she came to realize that reactionary emergency medicine was missing the mark. Instead, she decided to focus more on prevention of disease. Her time in the Emergency Department also made her realize that the state of being unwell stemmed from more than just physical changes in the body. The psychosomatic and social implications contribute a lot to a persons wellness but are largely ignored in the practice of western medicine because of the previous lack of evidence.