Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research
Distinguished Professor, Center on Alcohol Studies

hewhite@smithers.rutgers.edu, (848) 445-3579

Helene R. White (Ph.D. in Sociology from Rutgers University) is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology with a joint appointment in the Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies and the Sociology Department. She is also an Associate member of the IHHCPAR and holds a secondary appointment in the Graduate School of Social Work. Dr. White is internationally recognized for her research on developmental transitions in substance use over the life course and for her research on substance use and criminal behavior. Using longitudinal data from community and at-risk samples, her research focuses on the development, causes, consequences, comorbidity, and prevention of substance use and other problem behaviors, including violence, delinquency, crime, and mental health problems. Her research has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since the late 1970s as well as private foundations. Dr. White has also been developing and evaluating substance use preventive interventions for college students. Currently, she is Multiple-Principal Investigator on a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to examine simultaneous alcohol and marijuana use among college students and co-Principal Investigator on a NIDA-funded study examining predictors and consequences of marijuana use from childhood into young adulthood. Dr. White collaborates on several other longitudinal studies across the U.S. She has co-authored one book, co-edited three others, and published more than 200 articles and chapters and is listed on the Web of Science Highly Cited list. Dr. White is a Fellow of the Society for Prevention Research and the American Society of Criminology and has won several awards for her scholarship, including the Senior Scholar Award from the American Sociological Association, Section on Alcohol, Drugs, and Tobacco, a New Jersey Woman of Achievement Award, and the Translation Science Award from the Society for Prevention Research.