Senior Scientific Advisor to the Director
NIAAA, Maryland
Aaron White is the Senior Scientific Advisor to the Director at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). His areas of scientific expertise include the brain mechanisms and epidemiology of alcohol-induced memory blackouts, and the impact of alcohol and other drugs on brain function and behavior, particularly during the adolescent years.
Dr. White co-wrote the online alcohol prevention course, AlcoholEdu, which has been completed by more than 3 million high school and college students to date. He joined NIAAA in 2008 and, until recently, was a Program Officer in the Division of Epidemiology and Prevention Research. As a Program Officer, Dr. White oversaw a large portfolio of grants covering epidemiology and prevention research related to underage and college drinking. In 2015, he was promoted to Senior Scientific Advisor to the Director, Dr. George Koob. In this position, Dr. White advises the Director regarding a wide variety of scientific topic areas in alcohol and other drug research.
He also frequently takes part in media interviews and delivers presentations on behalf of the Institute, including presentations on addiction and overdoses at a meeting of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime in Austria last fall. He is an author on 37 peer-reviewed manuscripts, 22 review papers and book chapters, 3 books and has delivered several hundred presentations about alcohol and the brain.
