Dr. James Platt White received his medical degree from Jefferson College in Philadelphia. He worked under the tutelage of Dr. Josiah Trowbridge in Buffalo, specializing in surgery, and became active in the Erie County Medical Society.

He soon changed his field of specialty to obstetrics and gynecology, where he focused the remainder of his career.

In 1846, he was instrumental in obtaining from the state legislature a charter for the University of Buffalo, which opened its doors in the following year as a medical college. He taught the first class of eighty-nine men as professor of obstetrics, gaining in the years that followed great repute as a teacher.

He actively cooperated with Catholic Bishop John Timon in founding Buffalo's first hospital conducted by the Sisters of Charity. White played a major role later in the establishment of a hospital for the mentally ill at Buffalo near Delaware Park, the Buffalo State Hospital, now the Buffalo Psychiatric Center.  He was appointed chairman of the board of managers.

Source: The Picture Book of Earlier Buffalo, Severance, Frank H., ed. Buffalo Historical Society Publications, Vol. 16, 1912, p. 320

"The Repose in Egypt," by John LaFarge, in Trinity Episcopal Church

James P. White and his wife Mary Anna Dobbins gave this window in memory of his adoptive parents Dr. James P. and Mary Elizabeth Penfield White.     ...   Dr. White was a co-founder of the University of Buffalo's medical school and a member of the Christ Church vestry.   ...   In 1869, Dr White was the only supporter of H. H. Richardson's design for Christ Church (now Christ Chapel).