Michael F. Holick, PhD, MD

Dr. Holick is Professor of Medicine, Physiology and Biophysics; Director of the General Clinical Research Center; and Director of the Bone Health Care Clinic and the Heliotherapy, Light, and Skin Research Center at Boston University Medical Center. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine, Fellow of the American College of Nutrition, and a member of the American Academy of Dermatology and the American Association of Physicians.

An internationally recognized expert in the role of vitamin D in health, Dr. Holick serves numerous national committees and editorial boards, has authored more than 260 peer-reviewed publications and 200 review articles, and served on the Institute of Medicine's scientific expert panel for the 1999 Dietary Reference Intakes For Calcium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Vitamin D, and Fluoride. He is recipient of the American Skin Association's Psoriasis Research Achievement Award, the American Society for Clinical Nutrition's Robert H. Herman Memorial Award, and the Institute for Functional Medicine's Linus Pauling Award, which is given for research that changes how people think about a biomedical problem.

Dr. Holick has made numerous contributions to the field of the biochemistry, physiology, metabolism, and photobiology related to the role of vitamin D in nutrition and health. He determined the mechanism by which vitamin D is synthesized by the skin, and the impact of factors like aging, obesity, latitude, seasonal change, sunscreen use, skin pigmentation, and clothing on this process. He has also identified and helped increase awareness of vitamin D insufficiency in US pediatric and adult populations, and its role in osteoporosis in adults.