Julie D. White

Julie D. White holds more than 10 years of training and experience in biochemistry, anthropological genetics, epidemiology, biostatistics, and bioinformatics. With this diverse foundation, Dr. White applies interdisciplinary theory and techniques to study the intricate interplay between and among biological systems, the environment, and human diseases and traits using analyses of multi-omics data.

Currently, Dr. White contributes within multi-disciplinary teams to several National Institutes of Health studies that use human multi-omics data to discover genetic risk factors and neurobiological consequences of substance use (e.g., alcohol, cannabis, and cigarette smoking). She also leads a global working group within the Psychiatric Genetics Consortium that is focused on (epi)genetic factors related to alcohol use disorder across human tissues.

Prior to joining RTI in 2021, Dr. White was an IRTA Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institute of Environmental Heath Sciences, where she used epidemiological and epigenetic data to understand the impacts of a variety of exposures, including pesticides, woodsmoke, pipe and cigar smoke, and cigarette smoke, on DNA methylation and lung function. Her graduate research at Penn State identified genetic signals contributing to normal-range facial variation and interrogated long-held anthropological theories surrounding facial appearance and evolution using high-dimensional 3D imaging and genetic data.