Ellen Fricano, PhD
Assistant Professor of Anatomy
College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific
Join year: July 2019
Ph.D., Fuctional Anatomy and Evolustion, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore Maryland, 2018
M.S., Biological & Forensic Anthropology, Mercyhurst University, Erie, Pennsylvania, 2013
B.A., Anthroplogy, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, 2010
Assistant Professor, Medical Anatomical Sciences, COMP, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA 2019-present
Instructor, Human Physiology and Nutrition, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, CO, 2018-2019
Medical Gross Anatomy
My research interests are focused on the growth and development of mammalian cranial anatomy. I use three-dimensional imaging and morphometric analyses to test hypotheses about the relationships between form and function in bone and soft tissues. Recently, I have been interested in how the primate cranial base varies with the auditory complex across taxa and growth.
Journal Articles
Bleuze M, Fricano E., Farrell J., Brady J. (in review) A Calvarial Osteolytic Lesion of Probable Vascular Origin in a Maya Juvenile from the Classic Period (AD 250−900). Int J Paleopath.
Fricano EEI, Gremba A, Teixeira MS, Swarts JD, Alper C. 2023. Otitis Media and the Shape of the of the Pharyngotympanic Tube: A 3D MRI Study. Bioengineering 10(10), 1115.
Fricano EEI, DeLeon VB. 2020. Intraspecies Variation in Ectotympanic Tube Length and Orientation among Humans. Anat Rec 304(4), 832-844.
Fricano EEI, Perry JMG. 2019. Maximum Bony Gape in Primates. The Anatomical Record, 302(2), 215-225.
Conference Presentations and Abstracts
Torres S, Fricano E. 2024. An Unusual Case of Human Remains Found in an Urban Aqueduct. American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Denver CO.
Torres S, Fricano E. 2024. Fluctuating Cranial Asymmetry among Housed and Unhoused Individuals in Los Angeles County. American Association of Biological Anthropologists, Los Angeles, CA.
Fricano E, Gremba A, Teixeira MS, Swarts JD, Alper C. 2023. Otitis Media and the Shape of the of the Pharyngotympanic Tube: A 3D MRI Study. American Association for Anatomy (In review)
Meach R (COMP), Fricano E, Shirley C, Grosso A. 2023. Cobb Angle Estimation in a Deceased Population. 2023. American Academy of Forensic Sciences (Accepted)
Holden N (COMP), Thierra K. Nalley TK, Ellen Fricano E, Grider-Potter N. 2023. Evaluating the effect of using enhanced-contrast microCT imaging to measure in situ cervical morphology: a tamarin case study. American Association of Biological Anthropologists (Accepted).
Zadeh T (COMP), Fricano E, Wedel V. 2022. Evaluating the Effect of Cocaine Use on Dorsum Sellae Demineralization. American Academy of Forensic Sciences.
Mcgechie F, Grider-Potter N, Nalley TK, Fricano E, Middleton KM, Holliday CM, Ward, CV. 2021. 3D Functional Anatomy of Nuchal Musculature in Primates. Am J Phys Anthropol, 174, 68-68.
McGechie F, Grider-Potter N, Nalley T, Fricano E, Ward C. 2020. Neck Muscle Morphology and Function in Primates. FASEB J, 34(S1), 1-1.
Fricano EEI, Zelazny KG. 2020. Tough nut to crack: Durophagy and the tympanic plate in Cercopithecines. Am J Phys Anth 171, 91.
Fricano EEI, Smith TD, DeLeon VB. 2019. Neonatal Ectotympanic Bone Variation among Lorisiforms and Tarsiers. FASEB J, 33(1 supplement), 452-14.