Nathan Young, PhD

Nathan Young, PhD

Associate Professor

Nathan M. Young, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and Director of the Oral & Craniofacial Sciences Master of Science Program at the UCSF School of Dentistry. His research focuses on phenomic variation in evolution, health, and disease, with an emphasis on craniofacial and postcranial skeletal development, 3D medical imaging, geometric morphometrics, and human and ape evolution. Young has secured multiple National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF) grants as Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator, exploring topics such as brain-face interactions, cleft lip development, and shoulder morphology in osteoarthritis. With an h-index of 37 and over 5,080 citations, he has published extensively in high-impact journals, including Nature Communications, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Developmental Dynamics. His work integrates evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) with clinical applications, advancing predictive modeling of craniofacial anomalies and skeletal variation. Young is a dedicated educator, mentoring numerous undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers, and has received awards for teaching and research excellence, including the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Chairman’s Award and the Dean’s Publication and Mentorship Prize from the University of Calgary.

Education and Training

University of California, San Francisco

Postdoctoral Studies

Orthopaedic Surgery

2007

Stanford University

Postdoctoral Studies

Plastic Surgery

2006

University of Calgary

Postdoctoral Studies

Cell Biology & Anatomy

2004

Harvard University

Ph.D.

Biological Anthropology

2003

Publications

Title

Author (s)

Journal

Date Published

Scapular kinematics and task specificity: The effect of load direction.

Lee ECS, Young NM, Lawrence RL, Rainbow MJ. Scapular kinematics and task specificity: The effect of load direction. J Biomech. 2025 Oct; 191:112932.

2025-08-27

The stabilizing potential of the supraspinatus is inhibited in tear-associated scapula shapes but can be modulated by kinematic adjustments.

Lee ECS, Young NM, Li EY, Lawrence RL, Rainbow MJ. The stabilizing potential of the supraspinatus is inhibited in tear-associated scapula shapes but can be modulated by kinematic adjustments. Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2025; 13:1505015.

2025-03-31

p75 neurotrophin receptor regulates craniofacial growth and morphology in postnatal development.

Zhao B, Suh J, Zhang Y, Yin E, Kadota-Watanabe C, Chang IW, Yaung J, Lao-Ngo I, Young NM, Kim RH, Klein OD, Hong C. p75 neurotrophin receptor regulates craniofacial growth and morphology in postnatal development. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2025; 13:1569533.

2025-03-18