Professor of Pediatrics; Director, Pediatric Research Unit; Unit Leader Patient Oriented Research

• Endocrinology and Diabetes
• Patient Oriented Research

Dr. White is a native of New York and trained in chemistry at the State University of New York at Albany, and attended medical school at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx , graduating in 1975. He did his post-graduate pediatric and pediatric endocrinology training at St. Louis Children's Hospital and Washington University in St. Louis and then served as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism from 1980-1987.
From 1987 to 1991, he served as Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases at the University of Michigan School of Medicine, and as Associate Director of the Clinical Implementation Core of the Michigan Diabetes Research and Training Center . Dr. White returned to Washington University in 1991 and is currently a Professor in the Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes. He is also Co-Unit Leader of the Pediatric Patient-Oriented Research Unit (PORU) of the Department of Pediatrics and Associate Program Director (with responsibilities for the pediatric unit) of the Washington University General Clinical Research Center . He is board certified in pediatrics and pediatric endocrinology and is a Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE).
Dr. White is a member of multiple professional societies including the Professional Section of the American Diabetes Association, the American Federation for Medical Research, the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society, the Society for Pediatric Research, the American Pediatric Society, the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes, the Endocrine Society, the International Diabetes Federation, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. He has had a longstanding involvement with the American Diabetes Association at the local, state, regional, and national level and has served on many boards and committees. These have included his involvement as a member of the Research Grant Review Panel, the Scientific Sessions Planning Committee, and the Camp Task Force of the American Diabetes Association (ADA), and as Program Chairman and subsequently Chairman of the Council on Diabetes in Youth of the ADA.. He is a Past-President of the St. Louis Chapter of the American Diabetes Association. Dr. White has also had an 20 year involvement in the organization and operation of camps for diabetic children and was the recipient of the award for Outstanding Contribution to Diabetes and Camping of the American Diabetes Association in 1998.

Research Interests

Over the last 25 years, Dr. White's research interests have included active participation as a co-investigator and subsequently co-principal investigator of the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) both at Washington University and the University of Michigan. His currently the principal investigator at Washington University for the DCCT/EDIC study. He has had an ongoing interest in the methods of intensive therapy in type 1 and the risk of hypoglycemia as part of this therapy. He also oversees the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) and the DPP Outcomes Study (DPPOS), multiple trials of psychosocial interventions in diabetic teenagers, and the local centers of the Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet and TRIGR studies (related to prevention of type 1 diabetes) and the STOPP-T2D/TODAY study (related to treatment and prevention of type 2 diabetes in youth).
Recently, Dr. White has been collaborating with Tamara Hershey, Ph.D. , from the Department of Psychiatry to study cognitive functioning in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus. These studies have consistently shown persistent effects of severe hypoglycemia on the long delay Spatial Delayed Response Task (SDR) and suggest an affect of prior hypoglycemia on memory function. Studies are continuing in hopes of confirming and expanding these findings. See http://www.nil.wustl.edu/labs/hershey/db.htm for more information.
Dr. White is supported largely by research grants from NIH and JDRF grant on intensive therapy for children with type 1 diabetes. He is also supported by the General Clinical Research Center grant, and various grants from pharmaceutical companies. He is also PI for institutionally-based fellowship training (T32) and career-development (K12) grants from NIDDK.

Selected Publications

1. Laron Z, Lewy L, Wilderman I, Casu A, Willis J, Redondo MJ, Libman I, White NH, Craig M: Seasonality of month of birth of children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus in homogenous and heterogenous populations. Israel Medical Association Journal 7:381-384, 2005.

2. Hershey T, Perantie DC, Warren SL, Zimmerman EC, Sadler M, White NH: Frequency and timing of severe hypoglycemia affects spatial memory in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Diabetes Care 28:2372-2377, 2005.

3. Lueder GT, Pradhan S, White NH: Risk of Retinopathy in Children Diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus Before 2 Years of Age. American Journal of Ophthalmology140(5):930-931, 2005.

4. Sosenko JM, Palmer JP, Greenbaum J, Mahon J, Cowie C, Krisher JP, Chase HP, White NH, Buckingham B, Herold KC, Cuthbertson D, Skyler JS and the Diabetes Prevention Trial-1 Study Group: Patterns of metabolic progression of type 1 diabetes in participants of the Diabetes Prevention Trial-1 (DPT-1). Diabetes Care 29:643-649, 2006.

5. Charron-Prochownik D, Sereika SM, Falsetti D, Wang S-L, Becker D, Jacober S, Mansfield J White NH: Knowledge, attitudes and behaviors related to sexuality and family planning in adolescent women with and without diabetes. Pediatric Diabetes 7:267-273, 2006.

6. Wysocki T, Harris MA, Buckloh LM, Wilkinson K, Sadler M, Mauras N, White NH: Self-care autonomy and outcomes of intensive therapy or usual care in youth with type 1 diabetes Journal of Pediatric Psychology 31(10):1036-1046, 2006.

7. White NH, Skor DA, Cryer PE, Levandoski LA, Bier DM, Santiago JV. Identification of type I diabetic patients at increased risk for hypoglycemia during intensive therapy. N Engl J Med. 1983. 308(9):485-91