A nurse leader, educator, scientist and nationally recognized expert in gerontological nursing and rural health care, Heather M. Young is national director of the Betty Irene Moore Fellowship Program for Nurse Leaders and Innovators, professor, and dean emerita for the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis. Young researches healthy aging with a particular focus on the interface between individuals, family and formal health care systems. She co-leads the Healthy Aging in a Digital World initiative at UC Davis Health and co-directs the Family Caregiving Institute and is a Senior Policy Fellow with the AARP Public Policy Institute focusing on policy and systems supports for family caregivers. She was a member of the Stakeholder Advisory Group for the California Master Plan on Aging. Her research has played an instrumental role in shaping long-term care policies in Washington state and beyond and she conducted several longitudinal studies of family caregiving in the context of cognitive and functional decline associated with Alzheimer’s Disease. Her systems research includes use of technology, such as telehealth, and community-based strategies to promote healthy aging and management of chronic conditions. Young serves as a consultant to Leonard Lauder focusing on advancing nurse practitioners to improve community health.

As founding dean and Associate Vice Chancellor for Nursing for UC Davis Health, Young led the establishment of the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing. Young’s nursing practice included critical care and as a geriatric nurse practitioner in community-based long-term care. Previously, she directed the John A. Hartford Center for Geriatric Nursing Excellence at Oregon Health and Science University and, prior to that, she held a joint appointment on faculty at the University of Washington School of Nursing and as the chief operations officer of a retirement community company, designing and managing an array of residential and skilled nursing programs.