Nicholas White (physician)

Professor
Sir Nicholas White
KCMG OBE FRS FBPhS
White in 2011
Professor of Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford
In office
1996–2026
Professor of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University
Incumbent
Assumed office
1995
Personal details
BornNicholas John White
(1951-03-13)13 March 1951
London, England
Died1 February 2026(2026-02-01) (aged 74)
Oxford, England
OccupationTropical medicine specialist

Sir Nicholas John White (13 March 1951 – 1 February 2026) was a British medical doctor and researcher, specialising in tropical medicine in developing countries.[1] He was known for his work on tropical diseases, especially malaria using artemisinin-based combination therapy.[2]

Early life and education

White was born in London on 13 March 1951.[3] He studied medicine at the Guy's Hospital Medical School at King's College London. He completed his residency in internal medicine at various hospitals in London and at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford.

Research and career

White worked in Nepal between 1974 and 1980[4]. Since 1980, he was part of development of the Mahidol Oxford Research Unit (MORU), a scientific collaboration between the faculty of Mahidol University in Thailand and the Nuffield Department of Medicine of the University of Oxford. Since 1986, he was the director of MORU and has opened similar collaborations with Vietnam, the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU) in 1991[4], and Laos in 1999.

He dedicated his career to research on tropical diseases such as malaria, melioidosis,[5] typhoid fever, tetanus, dengue fever, rickettsiosis, tropical outbreaks of influenza, and COVID-19[6]. His most impactful scientific legacy include multinational clinical trials that generated the evidence for artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) becoming the global standard for Plasmodium falciparum malaria[7], and in particular intravenous artesunate as standard treatment for severe malaria [8].

In 2009, he was elected as the first Chair of the WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN) Board and held this position until 2016[9]. He was a Board member of the Infectious Diseases Data Observatory (IDDO) from 2016 until his passing in 2026[9]. He also served as Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) between 2016 and 2025.[10]

Personal life and death

White was married and had three children.[11] He died of an aggressive form of cancer in Oxford, England, at the age of 74. According to The Times, he was still writing papers and advising on clinical studies until the day before his death.[12][13][14]

Awards and memberships

White was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1999 Birthday Honours.[15] He was awarded the GlaxoSmithKline Prize in 2005[16] and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2006.[17] He was also a Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society (FBPhS).[18]

In 2010, White received the Patrick Manson Medal from the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award[19], and the Prince Mahidol Award.[20] In the 2017 New Year Honours he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG).[21]

Publications

White was the author or co-author of more than 1300 scientific publications. His h-index was 218 at the time of his death (Feb 2026).[22]

References

  1. ^ Farrar, Jeremy; Hotez, Peter J.; Junghaus, Thomas; Kang, Gagandeep; Lalloo, David; White, Nicholas J., eds. (2013). Manson's Tropical Diseases E-Book (23rd ed.). Elsevier Health Sciences. ISBN 9780702053061.
  2. ^ Ashley, Elizabeth A.; et al. (2014). "Spread of artemisinin resistance in Plasmodium falciparum malaria". New England Journal of Medicine. 371 (5): 411–423. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1314981. PMC 4143591. PMID 25075834.
  3. ^ Ferry, Georgina (16 February 2026). "Sir Nick White obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 February 2026.
  4. ^ a b Vũ, Hưng (5 February 2026). "Professor Sir Nicholas White OBE KCMG FRS". OUCRU. Retrieved 9 February 2026.
  5. ^ White, N. J. (2003). "Melioidosis". The Lancet. 361 (9370): 1715–1722. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(03)13374-0. PMID 12767750. S2CID 208790913.
  6. ^ The RECOVERY Collaborative Group (19 November 2020). "Effect of Hydroxychloroquine in Hospitalized Patients with Covid-19". New England Journal of Medicine. 383 (21): 2030–2040. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2022926. ISSN 0028-4793. PMC 7556338.
  7. ^ White, Nicholas (29 April 1999). "Antimalarial drug resistance and combination chemotherapy". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological sciences. 354 (1384): 739–749. doi:10.1098/rstb.1999.0426. PMC 1692562.
  8. ^ Dondorp, Arjen M.; Fanello, Caterina I.; Hendriksen, Ilse CE; Gomes, Ermelinda; Seni, Amir; Chhaganlal, Kajal D.; Bojang, Kalifa; Olaosebikan, Rasaq; Anunobi, Nkechinyere; Maitland, Kathryn; Kivaya, Esther; Agbenyega, Tsiri; Nguah, Samuel Blay; Evans, Jennifer; Gesase, Samwel (13 November 2010). "Artesunate versus quinine in the treatment of severe falciparum malaria in African children (AQUAMAT): an open-label, randomised trial". The Lancet. 376 (9753): 1647–1657. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61924-1. ISSN 0140-6736. PMC 3033534. PMID 21062666.
  9. ^ a b "A Tribute to Professor Sir Nicholas White:1951 - 2026 | Infectious Diseases Data Observatory". www.iddo.org. Retrieved 9 February 2026.
  10. ^ Emma (2 February 2026). "Message on the passing of Professor Sir Nicholas White from DNDi Board Chair Dr Marie-Paule Kieny and DNDi Executive Director Dr Luis Pizarro | DNDi". dndi.org. Retrieved 9 February 2026.
  11. ^ "Curriculum Vitae Professor Nicholas J. White" (PDF). Retrieved 4 February 2026.
  12. ^ "Professor Sir Nicholas White OBE KCMG FRS". University of Oxford. 2026.
  13. ^ "Nick White, 1951-2026". Wellcome. 3 February 2026. Retrieved 4 February 2026.
  14. ^ "Professor Sir Nicholas White obituary: brilliant clinical scientist". The Times. 24 February 2026. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
  15. ^ "Queen's Birthday Honors: The Full List". The Independent. 12 June 1999.
  16. ^ "Award Winners: GlaxoSmithKline Prize". docs.google.com.
  17. ^ "Nicholas White". royalsociety.org.
  18. ^ "Fellows & Honorary Fellows". BPS. Archived from the original on 11 February 2026. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
  19. ^ "Nicholas White". gairdner.org.
  20. ^ "Professor Nicholas J. White, M.D." princemahidolaward.org. Archived from the original on 15 January 2017. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  21. ^ "New Year's Honors 2017 - University of Oxford". ox.ac.uk. 31 December 2013.
  22. ^ "Nicholas White - Google Scholar Citations". Retrieved 9 February 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
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