Hester Scholarship Awardees

Emily White

‘We are on different wavelengths.’

The unspoken thought brought Emily White up short. In reviewing options for a young cancer patient, White realized that while the attending physician needed to address immediate care, her own questions about common mutations and longer-term issues based on research papers she’d read weren’t addressed.

“The dichotomy showed me the yawning gap between research and therapeutics. There are so many promising discoveries of tumor genetics made in the lab but translating them into medical treatments is a much more difficult task,” she said. “We must bridge this gap to advance cancer therapeutics, and that’s why I’m pursuing a career as an M.D./Ph.D. in biomedical sciences and pediatric oncology research.”

At the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, White joined Dr. Wade Clap’s lab with mentor Dr. Steven Rhodes to look for ways to disrupt the potentially deadly progression of tumors in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). Tumors developing in the nerves of most NF1 patients either stop growing or grow slowly enough to be treated. In others, they become malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNST), the leading cause of early death for NF1 patients.

“Previous data from the Clap lab has shown that early-stage MPNSTs exhibit a pro-inflammatory, or hot, immune response. Later-stage MPNSTs seem to exhibit a cold immune environment,” she said. “My hypothesis is that understanding this immune transition could contribute to the creation of better diagnostic and therapeutic tools in patients

White proposed this new approach.

“It’s novel in that MPNST progression hasn’t been explored before in the context of immune environments, what the immune system is doing to constrain malignant transformation. I’m lucky they’re letting me explore my idea. If what I’m doing works, it’s an avenue that could go to a clinical trial. That’s ultimately where I want to be, in the translational space of running clinical trials with patients.”

She became a fan of Clap, Rhodes and the rest of the team even before she joined them in the lab.

“When I was volunteering and doing rotations in peds oncology, what I loved was the clear air of putting the patient first. It’s this collaborative environment between a doctor and patient and parents that’s kind of unique to pediatric oncology,” she said.

White plans to use the Hester scholarship in her NF1 work and to write a National Cancer Institute F30 grant.

About the Author

Cindy Dashnaw Jackson finds and tells nonprofit stories that inspire audiences to share, show up and support. She honed her ability to craft a message that fits an audience during 20 years in nonprofit PR and communications. Now a freelancer and founder of Cause Communications LLC, she's a copywriter and storyteller for nonprofits across the United States. And she earned her degree at IUPUI.

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