Newswise — New Brunswick, N.J., April 27, 2021 – Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey Deputy Director, Chief Scientific Officer, and Associate Director for Basic Research Eileen White, PhD, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). She is among 120 members elected this year in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.
The NAS is a private, non-profit society of distinguished scholars charged with providing independent, objective advice to the nation on matters related to science and technology. Members are elected to the NAS by their peers for their outstanding contributions to science. Election to membership in the NAS is considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive.
Dr. White, an expert in cancer metabolism, has made numerous landmark contributions to her field. The White Laboratory at Rutgers Cancer Institute focuses on the role of cellular metabolism in cancer progression and treatment. White discovered and identified critical metabolic pathways through which cancer cells survive, reproduce, and evade immune responses, paving new ways to inhibit tumor growth and improve anti-cancer immune responses.
“We are extraordinarily proud of Dr. Eileen White’s election to the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. White’s seminal discoveries in the area of cancer metabolism have significantly contributed to our understanding of the interaction of solid tumors and the host environment, laying the groundwork for the development of novel treatments. As New Jersey’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, Rutgers Cancer Institute is distinguished by the unparalleled cutting-edge research performed by its investigators, and we are proud that Dr. White is among its research leaders,” shares Rutgers Cancer Institute Director Steven K. Libutti, MD, FACS, senior vice president, oncology services, RWJBarnabas Health.
“I am proud to be elected as a member to the National Academy this year. It is humbling to be recognized in this way and to be a contributor to the international scientific community,” notes White, who is also a distinguished professor of molecular biology and biochemistry in the School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University and the co-director of the Cancer Immunology and Metabolism Center of Excellence at Rutgers Cancer Institute. She is also Associate Director of the Ludwig Princeton Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research.
White completed her undergraduate work at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a PhD in Biology from SUNY Stony Brook. She was a Damon Runyon Postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Bruce Stillman at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. She served on the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Cancer Institute and the Board of Directors of the American Association for Cancer Research. White has received a MERIT Award from the National Cancer Institute, an investigatorship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the Red Smith Award from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation.
She is also an elected Fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research, American Society of Microbiology and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. White has served as a member of the Scientific Review Boards for the Starr Cancer Consortium and the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas, and currently serves on the Board of Scientific Advisors for the National Cancer Institute.
About Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey
As New Jersey’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, Rutgers Cancer Institute, together with RWJBarnabas Health, offers the most advanced cancer treatment options including bone marrow transplantation, proton therapy, CAR T-cell therapy and complex surgical procedures. Along with clinical trials and novel therapeutics such as precision medicine and immunotherapy – many of which are not widely available – patients have access to these cutting-edge therapies at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey at University Hospital in Newark, as well as through RWJBarnabas Health facilities. To make a tax-deductible gift to support the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, call 848-932-8013 or visit www.cinj.org/giving.
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