The daughter of Carl Young and Eleanor Hamilton, she was born in Houston. Young joined the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word in 1946. She received a bachelor's degree in biology and chemistry (1947) from Incarnate Word College, a master's in nutrition education (1955) from St. Louis University and a PhD in nutrition, biochemistry and physiology (1968) from the University of Wisconsin.[1]
She was an associate professor at Incarnate Word College and then a professor in medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center.[2] Young often asked her students to eat the same food as was being served to patients to help them appreciate the patient's viewpoint.[3]
She also served on the staff at the Health Center Hospital as an associate consulting member and as a consultant in nutrition at the Audie L. Murphy Memorial VA Hospital.[2]
Young led the first studies to show a hereditary lactase deficiency in Hispanic people.[3] The nutrition curriculum that she established at the University of Texas Health Science Center was hailed by the National Academy of Sciences as a model for this type of program.[2]
