Professor Hypponen is the Director of the Australian Centre for Precision Health at the University of South Australia Cancer Research Institute. She was recruited to the University of South Australia as the Professor in Nutritional and Genetic Epidemiology in 2013, following 12 years at the University College London, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health.

She also holds appointments as a Honorary Professor at the University College London, Senior Principal Research Fellow at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) and as an Adjunct Professor in Epidemiology at the University of Tampere, Finland. Professor Hypponen has an interdisciplinary academic background, with academic qualifications in epidemiology, medical statistics, nutrition and public health.