Graham White was born in Bedford, England, and grew up in Croydon where his parents owned a pharmacy. In 1963 he graduated in Applied Zoology from Imperial College and chose a career in public health entomology, specializing in mosquito biology & control. His PhD from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine developed chemosterilant procedures that eliminated the pest mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus from a Florida island.

During 1967-1972 he served as medical entomologist for the East African Institute for Malaria & Vector-Borne Diseases, investigating vector species complexes in relation to epidemiology and control of malaria,filariasis and onchocerciasis. He moved onto operational malaria control and understanding the complexity of mosquito speciation, becoming i/c Medical Entomology at the Natural History Museum, 1974-79, and served on the Governing Board of the International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature for 20 years. He returned to LSH&TM as Senior Lecturer in Medical Entomology, 1979-85, going as WHO consultant for vector control programmes in Cuba, East Africa, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sudan & the United Arab Emirates. Graham has authored >200 research papers, articles, reports & book chapters, supervised 15 PhD students and many Masters projects.