2024 Wright Scholarship

By Cindy Dashnaw Jackson

“Concocting slime in crazy goggles and giant white lab coats” in high school science classes turned out to be Emily White’s first step toward helping cancer patients at the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“I have my AP biology teacher to thank for understanding what a career in science could be, and for introducing me to the MD/PhD dual degree program,” White, one of the recipients of the 2024 Wright Scholarship, said. “Ever since then, my goal has been to translate lab discoveries into clinical solutions with a real impact on cancer patients.”

White, a recipient of the Hester Scholarship in 2023, also volunteered at Riley Hospital for Children’s surgery and outpatient hematology oncology unit during her high school years.

“I wanted to help people, and pediatric oncology is a great avenue for doing that. Patients and their parents are big on advocacy and the clinical trials are gold standards, so loving the research and respecting the resiliency of pediatric patients are what drew me toward becoming a physician-scientist,” White said. “In my experience, I find it’s often tougher for pediatric oncology patients to go through treatments than adults, but they are so resilient. They don’t fully understand what’s happening, but they definitely can see that mom and dad are scared—so while they’re getting poked and prodded, they still find a way to laugh and make their parents laugh. They try so hard to be helpful.”

Once enrolled in MD/PhD student training in medical and molecular genetics, White was drawn to the cancer center lab of Drs. Wade Clapp and Steven Rhodes, where researchers study neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a cancer predisposition syndrome. 

“I applied to this lab because I wanted Drs. Clapp and Rhodes as mentors. They are incredibly focused in their approach to therapeutics and finding the next target for treatment. They’re changing the field as a whole,” she said. “Cancer research is on the cusp of discovering a lot of technologies and treatments targeting whatever mutation someone has that we can quickly bring to patients. That being said, the process of developing a drug from target identification to making it available to patients can take up to 10 years. It’s important to ensure these medicines are safe, but we also want to reduce that time as much as possible. It’s exciting work.” 

During her time in the lab, White already has developed a new area of focus: using next-generation sequencing and genetically engineered mouse models to study the role of T-cell immunology in NF1 tumor progression. NF1 tumors that transform to malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors, or MPNST, are the leading cause of premature death in NF1 patients.

Along with being grateful for the importance of the work, White appreciates how much the team supports her educational goals.

“The program allows me to focus heavily on getting my thesis work done. Being in the lab full time helps move my research forward so I can graduate and get back to medical school. We generate data quickly, and it’s incredibly rewarding,” she said. “There’s an amazing sense of collaboration outside of the lab, too, among professors I wouldn’t have thought I’d get to work with but do. I have so many people I can call on. It’s a testament to the culture here.”