Larry Young Obituary: Emory University School of Medicine appointed Larry J. Young as the William P. Timmie Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. At the Emory National Primate Research Center, he was the Director of the Division of Behavioral Neuroscience and Psychiatric Disorders. Young passed away unexpectedly in March 2024. Young studied the neural, molecular, and genetic mechanisms underlying complex social behaviors as social cognition and social bonding.
His research primarily focuses on the roles played by the neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin in controlling how the brain interprets social cues and forms attachments to others. Young developed behavioral paradigms that are useful for assessing drugs that enhance social cognition and for investigating novel strategies for finding drugs to treat mental illnesses.
Young also served as director of Emory University’s Center for Translational Social Neuroscience. For scientists and medical professionals in the Atlanta region committed to understanding and treating the human brain, this center acts as a gathering place. Additionally, a National Geographic documentary centered on Young’s work.
Young grew up in a rural region of Georgia on a farm. Since there were few educational resources available in his little town, he spent most of his time studying the natural world. His interest in the biological sciences was piqued by this experience. Young graduated from the University of Georgia in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry. He then went on to study for his Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin, where he finished his studies in 1994 with a degree in neuroendocrinology. During his post-doctoral studies at Emory University, he specifically looked into how genes affect social behavior.
Larry Young is the Director of the Silvio O. Conte Center for Oxytocin and Social Cognition at Emory University as well as the Center for Translational Social Neuroscience (CTSN). He is the William P. Timmie Professor of Psychiatry at Emory School of Medicine and the head of the Division of Behavioral Neuroscience and Psychiatric Disorders at the Yerkes National Primate Center. Dr. Young is also the head of the Japan Center for Social Neural Networks. Dr. Young focuses his research on the neural circuitry and evolution of social bonds. The goal is to comprehend how these systems could be applied to improve social functioning in mental diseases such as autism.
According to study, oxytocin and vasopressin are important for promoting empathy and social bonding in prairie voles. He writes a book called The Chemistry Between Us: Love, Sex, and the Science of Attraction, which explores the latest recent research on how brain chemistry affects every aspect of our interpersonal relationships.
