Center of Excellence in Cancer Immunology and Metabolism Leadership

Dr. Christian S. Hinrichs
Co-Director
Chief, Section of Cancer Immunotherapy, Rutgers Cancer Institute
Dr. Eileen White
Co-Director
Deputy Director, Chief Scientific Officer, Rutgers Cancer Institute; Board of Governors Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences

 

Dr. Christian S. Hinrichs

Co-Director
Chief, Section of Cancer Immunotherapy, Rutgers Cancer Institute


Dr. Christian Hinrichs joined the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey as Co-Director of the Cancer Immunology and Metabolism Center of Excellence in 2021. In his previous role at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Dr. Hinrichs was senior investigator in the Genitourinary Malignancies Branch at the Center for Cancer Research. Dr. Hinrichs became a pioneer in the field of cancer immunology discovering new T-cell therapies for human papillomavirus–associated cancers and other common types of cancer. The novel T-cell therapies his team developed led to cure of cervical cancer in some patients. 


Watch the video "New paths to cure cancer emerge from immunotherapy trials" on Facebook.

Dr. Hinrichs received his BA and MD degrees from the combined 6-year program at the University of Missouri, Kansas City (UMKC). He trained in general surgery at UMKC and in surgical oncology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. He then completed a surgical oncology and tumor immunology fellowship at the NCI. Subsequently, he trained in internal medicine at George Washington University and in medical oncology at the Medical Oncology Branch of the NCI. He was awarded tenure at NIH in 2020.

A cancer survivor himself, Dr. Hinrichs is focused on research to discover and develop new cell therapies for common cancers. Combining his expertise in immunology with Dr. Eileen White’s cutting-edge research in cancer cell metabolism provides a unique situation at the Duncan and Nancy MacMillan Cancer Immunology and Metabolism Center of Excellence. The Center is poised to break new ground in the field of cancer treatment, continuing to provide hope and new options to patients in situations where no options remain.

A list of Dr. Hinrichs’s published work can be found here.

 

Dr. Eileen White

Co-Director
Deputy Director, Chief Scientific Officer, Rutgers Cancer Institute; Board of Governors Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences


Dr. Eileen White is Co-Director of the Duncan and Nancy MacMillan Cancer Immunology and Metabolism Center of Excellence at Rutgers Cancer Institute. Dr. White also serves as Deputy Director, Chief Scientific Officer, at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Distinguished Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at Rutgers University, and Board of Governors Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences.

Under her direction, the White Laboratory at Rutgers Cancer Institute has focused on translational research modulating the apoptosis pathway for cancer therapy and on the role of cellular metabolism in cancer progression and treatment. In collaboration with the laboratory of Dr. Joshua Rabinowitz at Princeton University, the White group went on to demonstrate that tumor cells require the metabolic pathway of autophagy to sustain tumor metabolism and survival. By discovering and analyzing the inner mechanisms of tumor cell growth, survival, and proliferation, and in turn learning how to manipulate these mechanisms, Dr. White’s research is helping to improve current solid tumor therapies, as well as writing the blueprint for novel therapies to come. 

Dr. White received a BS from 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. Dr. White served on the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Cancer Institute and the Board of Directors of the American Association for Cancer Research. She has received a MERIT Award from the NCI, an Investigatorship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the Red Smith Award from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. Dr. White is an elected Fellow of the American Society of Microbiology and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. 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.

A list of Dr. White’s published work can be found here.

 

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