Heather Youngs

Heather Youngs is Program Officer for Scientific Research at Open Philanthropy, where she co-manages a portfolio of grants and investments with the aim of “doing as much good as possible” in underfunded areas. She is also a founding director at Redleaf Biologics and a partner in Ninole Cacao.

Prior to joining Open Philanthropy, Heather was director of the Bakar Fellows Program for faculty entrepreneurs at UC Berkeley, a senior strategic advisor at the Energy Biosciences Institute at UC Berkeley and an assistant professor at Michigan Technological University.

She received a B.S. in biology from Michigan Technological University, a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Oregon Health and Science University, and was an NIH post-doctoral fellow at Stanford University.