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Nicholas Alonzo Frost
( out of 169 reviews )

Nicholas Alonzo Frost, MD, PhD

Languages spoken: English

Dr. Frost is a board certified neurologist who sees patients with disorders of memory and cognition. His clinical and research interests focus on understanding mechanisms that contribute to disorders of cognition. His research focuses on how information relevant to complex behaviors including social interactions are encoded within the prefrontal cortex and disrupted in disease. His laboratory utilizes imaging and transcriptomic approaches to understand how heterogeneous populations of neurons function in concert to encode different types of behavioral information.

Dr. Frost received his medical degree and graduate research training from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. There his research focused on developing super-resolution microscopy to image biological processes in living neurons. He then moved to San Francisco for further clinical training including an internship in internal medicine and residency in adult neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. Following residency he completed a research fellowship at UCSF focused on characterizing circuit-level endophenotypes underlying abnormal behavior in preclinical models of neurodevelopmental disorders.

Board Certification

American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology (Neurology)

Patient Rating

4.9 /5
( out of 169 reviews )

The patient rating score is an average of all responses on our patient experience survey. The rating averages scores for all questions about care from our providers.

The scale on which responses are measured is 1 to 5 with 5 being the best score.

Patient Comments

Patient comments are gathered from our patient experience survey and displayed in their entirety. For the convenience of our visitors, some patient comments have been translated from their original language into English while preserving their original meaning as accurately as possible. Patients are de-identified for confidentiality and patient privacy.

1840-12-31 00:00:00
CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES CENTER

Dr. Frost, tested me then explained all the things that could happen, then he carefully took his time to talk about the results that could come. He gave me answers that I really needed to be able to continue.

1840-12-31 00:00:00
CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES CENTER

Dr. Frost is the best for me. He never pulled a red marker out stating ¿lost cause!¿ He talked me through the whole process. (Wanted a little more help with the questions) but I really feel protected and that he is doing everything possible to give the best outcome for me. He gives me hope! Thank you, Dr. Frost!

1840-12-31 00:00:00
CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES CENTER

Dr. Frost is very knowledgeable. He presents factual information. He spends time to listen to patients concerns and is very supporting helping to set and make an achievable plan to have the best possible results for the patient. I highly recommend Dr Frost and his excellent nurses and people in his team.

1840-12-31 00:00:00
CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES CENTER

Dr. FROST IS THE Best Dr. FROST IS THE BEST!

1840-12-31 00:00:00
CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES CENTER

Great dr. I am lucky to have him

1840-12-31 00:00:00
CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES CENTER

Dr Frost is very competent. He explains things well and cares about his patients.

1840-12-31 00:00:00
CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES CENTER

Dr. Nicholas Frost is WONDERFUL!!! I would Highly Recommend Him to everyone I know!!!

1840-12-31 00:00:00
CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES CENTER

Excellent care

1840-12-31 00:00:00
CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES CENTER

Very very helpful

Dr. Frost is a board certified neurologist who sees patients with disorders of memory and cognition. His clinical and research interests focus on understanding mechanisms that contribute to disorders of cognition. His research focuses on how information relevant to complex behaviors including social interactions are encoded within the prefrontal cortex and disrupted in disease. His laboratory utilizes imaging and transcriptomic approaches to understand how heterogeneous populations of neurons function in concert to encode different types of behavioral information.

Dr. Frost received his medical degree and graduate research training from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. There his research focused on developing super-resolution microscopy to image biological processes in living neurons. He then moved to San Francisco for further clinical training including an internship in internal medicine and residency in adult neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. Following residency he completed a research fellowship at UCSF focused on characterizing circuit-level endophenotypes underlying abnormal behavior in preclinical models of neurodevelopmental disorders.

Board Certification and Academic Information

Academic Departments Neurology -Assistant Professor
Neurobiology -Adjunct Assistant Professor
Board Certification
American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology (Neurology)

Education history

Undergraduate Biochemistry, Spanish - Florida State University B.S., B.A.
Professional Medical Neuroscience - University of Maryland School of Medicine M.D., Ph.D.
Internship Internal Medicine - University of California, San Francisco Intern
Residency Neurology - University of California, San Francisco Resident
Research Fellow R25 Research Fellowship in circuit disorders underlying abnormal behavior - University of California, San Francisco Postdoctoral Fellow

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. Frost NA, Shroff H, Kong H, Betzig E, Blanpied TA (2010). Single-molecule discrimination of discrete perisynaptic and distributed sites of actin filament assembly within dendritic spines. Neuron, 67(1), 86-99.
  2. Frost NA, Kerr JM, Lu HE, Blanpied TA (2010). A network of networks: cytoskeletal control of compartmentalized function within dendritic spines. Curr Opin Neurobiol, 20(5), 578-87.
  3. MacGillavry HD, Kerr JM, Kassner J, Frost NA, Blanpied TA (2016). Shank-cortactin interactions control actin dynamics to maintain flexibility of neuronal spines and synapses. Eur J Neurosci, 43(2), 179-93.
  4. Gerdes MJ, Myakishev M, Frost NA, Rishi V, Moitra J, Acharya A, Levy MR, Park SW, Glick A, Yuspa SH, Vinson C (2006). Activator protein-1 activity regulates epithelial tumor cell identity. Cancer Res, 66(15), 7578-88.
  5. Lieberman JA, Frost NA, Hoppert M, Fernandes PJ, Vogt SL, Raivio TL, Blanpied TA, Donnenberg MS (2012). Outer membrane targeting, ultrastructure, and single molecule localization of the enteropathogenic Escherichia coli type IV pilus secretin BfpB. J Bacteriol, 194(7), 1646-58.
  6. Jensen CS, Watanabe S, Rasmussen HB, Schmitt N, Olesen SP, Frost NA, Blanpied TA, Misonou H (2014). Specific sorting and post-Golgi trafficking of dendritic potassium channels in living neurons. J Biol Chem, 289(15), 10566-81.
  7. Lu HE, MacGillavry HD, Frost NA, Blanpied TA (2014). Multiple spatial and kinetic subpopulations of CaMKII in spines and dendrites as resolved by single-molecule tracking PALM. J Neurosci, 34(22), 7600-10.
  8. Parikh RV, Frost NA, Green A, Dandu M (2014). A Leathery Lining. J Gen Intern Med, 29(1), 243.
  9. Weinman EJ, Steplock D, Cha B, Kovbasnjuk O, Frost NA, Cunningham R, Shenolikar S, Blanpied TA, Donowitz M (2009). PTH transiently increases the percent mobile fraction of Npt2a in OK cells as determined by FRAP. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol, 297(6), F1560-5.
  10. Frost NA, Haggart A, Sohal VS (2021). Dynamic patterns of correlated activity in the prefrontal cortex encode information about social behavior. PLoS Biol, May 3;19(5), e3001235.
  11. Frost NA, Lu HE, Blanpied TA (2012). Optimization of cell morphology measurement via single-molecule tracking PALM. PLoS One, 7(5), e36751.
  12. Shin D, Kim CN, Ross J, Hennick KM, Wu SR, Paranjape N, Leonard R, Wang JC, Keefe MG, Pavlovic BJ, Donohue KC, Moreau C, Wigdor EM, Larson HH, Allen DE, Cadwell CR, Bhaduri A, Popova G, Bearden CE, Pollen AA, Jacquemont S, Sanders SJ, Haussler D, Wiita AP, Frost NA, Sohal VS, Nowakowski TJ (2024). Thalamocortical organoids enable in vitro modeling of 22q11.2 microdeletion associated with neuropsychiatric disorders. Cell Stem Cell, 31(3), 421-432.e8.
  13. Frost NA, Donohue KC, Sohal V (2023). Context-invariant socioemotional encoding by prefrontal ensembles. bioRxiv.
  14. Walker H, Frost N (2024). Distinct transcriptional programs define a heterogeneous neuronal ensemble for social interaction. iScience, 27(7), 110355.
  15. Walker H, Frost N (2024). Protocol for the generation of single-nuclei RNA-seq libraries and quantification of heterogeneous cell types activated during social interaction. STAR protocols, 5(4), 103395.
  16. Canales CP, Lozano SA, Frost NA, Cichewicz K, Amaral W, Seban N, Fenton E, Wade A, Chu N, Smith E, Ardekani C, Frank S, Bennett J, Lavenex P, Kopley-Smith A, Rahbarian D, Corea M, Perla D, Davis L, Zhu J, Ortiz R, Beauregard P, Morse S, Baker J, Sun J, Ma B, Lu J, Sohal VS, Amaral DG, Zuo Y, Nord A (2025). Persistent cortical excitatory neuron dysregulation in adult Chd8 haploinsufficient mice. Research square,
  17. Walker H, Kwak D, Devaraju P, Curd BC, Chikuni AM, Frost N (2025). Impaired Spatiotemporal Encoding of Social Behavior and Anxiety in the Prefrontal Cortex of Mice Lacking ASD-Risk Gene Shank3. bioRxiv,
  18. Frost NA, Donohue KC, Kwak D, Sohal V (2025). Context-invariant socioemotional encoding by prefrontal ensembles. Nature communications, 16(1), 5455.
  19. Gatlin RE, Gagon J, Kwak D, Park S, Walker H, Kronheim L, Everett T, Covington A, Fluck MM, Zickmund T, Frost NA, Zelikowsky (2025). Co-release of opposing signaling molecules controls the escalation and release of aggression. bioRxiv,
  20. Ngam PI, Anzai Y, Cliatt Brown CJ, Frost NA, Keown Sorweid M, Thientunyakit T, Minoshima S, Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiativ (2026). Copathologies of Limbic-Predominant Age-Related TDP-43 Encephalopathy and Alzheimer Disease: [(18)F]FDG PET Statistical Mapping and Quantitative MRI Volumetry. Journal of nuclear medicine,
  21. Curd BC, Zubrick C, Brown CJC, Sorweid MK, Dehoney SB, Anzai Y, Minoshima S, Parks AL, Frost N (2026). Real-world experience with lecanemab therapy for Alzheimer's disease in the Intermountain West. Alzheimer's & dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 18(1), e70251.

Book Chapter

  1. Frost NA, MacGillavry HD, Lu HE, Blanpied TA (2014). Live-cell PALM of intracellular proteins in neurons. In Nägerl U, Triller A (Eds.), Nanoscale Imaging of Synapses. Neuromethods (84, pp. 93-123). New York, NY: Humana Press.