Dr. Eileen White stands as a preeminent leader in cancer biology and molecular research, currently serving as Deputy Director, Chief Scientific Officer, and Associate Director for Basic Research at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. She holds the distinguished title of Board of Governors Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences, a position awarded in 2022 in recognition of her exceptional scientific contributions and leadership. Dr. White also serves as Associate Director of the Ludwig Princeton Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at Princeton University, extending her influence across major cancer research institutions. Her career trajectory has been marked by consistent scientific excellence, culminating in her election to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021 and recognition by the American Association for Cancer Research Academy.
Dr. White's groundbreaking research has fundamentally transformed our understanding of cancer cell survival mechanisms, particularly through her discovery of critical metabolic pathways that enable cancer cells to survive, reproduce, and evade immune responses. Her laboratory pioneered the demonstration that tumor cells activate the cellular self-cannibalization process of autophagy to survive the metabolic stress of tumor growth, establishing autophagy as a critical cancer survival mechanism for solid tumors. In collaboration with Dr. Josh Rabinowitz at Princeton University, she demonstrated that tumor cells require autophagy to sustain tumor metabolism and survival, particularly in Ras-driven cancers where autophagy is induced and essential for tumor progression. Her work revealed that in models of Ras-driven lung cancer, autophagy is required for progression to aggressive carcinomas, as blocking autophagy causes lung tumors to progress instead to benign oncocytomas, thereby identifying autophagy inhibition as a novel therapeutic approach to suppress tumor growth and redirect cancer progression.
As a member of the National Cancer Institute's Board of Scientific Counselors, Dr. White continues to shape national cancer research priorities while advancing her laboratory's work toward clinical translation. Her significant contributions have been recognized with prestigious awards including a MERIT award from the National Cancer Institute, the Red Smith award from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, and her election as a Fellow of the American Society of Microbiology and to the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. White's research program is currently focused on developing therapeutic approaches to block autophagy and thereby impair tumor metabolism, with clinical trials underway to test this innovative concept in cancer treatment. Through her leadership at the Duncan and Nancy MacMillan Cancer Immunology and Metabolism Center of Excellence, she continues to catalyze interdisciplinary research that bridges basic science discoveries with clinical applications, positioning her work at the forefront of next-generation cancer therapies that target metabolic vulnerabilities in tumors.
