White was a Brown University Alumni Trustee, served on the Board of Fellows from 1981 to 1992, and as member of the Committee on Medical Education (1991-1996). He was the President and co-founder of the J. Robert Gladden Society, whose mission “is to increase diversity within the orthopaedic profession and promote the highest quality musculoskeletal care for all people.” In 1989, White was appointed President of the University of Maryland at Baltimore, though he resigned a few weeks later before formally taking office, after a dispute with the Board of Regents. In 1996, White served as Chairman of the Diversity Committee of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. He authored the textbook Clinical Biomechanics of the Spine and the book for patients Your Aching Back. Since retiring from surgery in 2001, White has researched and written about issues of diversity and cultural sensitivity in medicine. While studying in Sweden, White met his wife, Anita. They have three children.
