Michael F. Holick, Ph.D., M.D.

Medicine, Pharmacology, Physiology, Biophysics and Molecular Medicine
Director of the General Clinical Research Unit
Director of the Bone Health Care Clinic
Director of the Heliotherapy, Light, and Skin Research Center at Boston University Medical Center

Website: http://drholick.com, https://drmichaelholick.org
Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael-Holick
Twitter: @VitaminD_Holick
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-f-holick-3b6b7432/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrMHolick/

ABOUT DR. HOLICK

Over the past five decades he has made major contributions in the areas of vitamin D, skin disease, hair research, cancer research, metabolic bone disease, evolutionary biology, disorders of collagen metabolism and calcium metabolism.

As a graduate student, Dr. Holick was the first to identify the major circulating form of vitamin D in human blood as 25-hydroxyvitamin D3. He then isolated and identified the active form of vitamin D as 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3. He determined the mechanism for how vitamin D is synthesized in the skin, demonstrated the effects of aging, obesity, latitude, seasonal change, sunscreen use, skin pigmentation, and clothing on this vital cutaneous process.  As a postdoctoral fellow and medical student he participated in the first chemical synthesis of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 that was used to treat pseudo-vitamin D deficiency rickets and hypoparathyroidism. He helped develop the first clinically useful assays to measure 25-hydroxyvitamin D and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D.

In 1987, Dr. Holick became Director of the Clinical Research Center and Chief of Endocrinology and Diabetes of Boston City Hospital at The Boston University School of Medicine. He became Chief of Endocrinlogy, Diabetes and Nurtition at Boston Medical Center in 1992. His research on how time of day, season, latitude, altitude, skin pigmentation and sunscreen use influences the sun’s ability to produce vitamin D3 in the skin has led to the development of the app dminder.info that provides global recommendations for sensible sun exposure. His basic research on vitamin D and skin health resulted in the concept of using active vitamin D to treat psoriasis.

As of July 2024, Dr. Holick has over 650 peer reviewed manuscripts that has been recognized and cited more than 175,000 times in Google Scholar related to vitamin D, calcium, phosphate and bone metabolism. He has written and edited 13 books including his most recent best seller The Vitamin D Solution. He served in various committees including as the Chair for the Endocrine Society’s Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee for Vitamin D that published recommendations for how to treat and prevent vitamin D deficiency in children and adults, and as Chair for NASA’s Research Committee on Human Health and Performance for the bone health of astronauts.

His current research deals with vitamin D nutrition and its impact on health. A recent study demonstrated that vitamin D has a dramatic impact on immune function. It was observed that more than 2000 genes in the white blood cells were influenced in healthy adults who took 10,000 IUs of vitamin D daily for 6 months. Studies are underway to develop a vitamin D metabolite for treating vitamin D deficiency in children and adults who have fat malabsorption due to an underlying gastrointestinal disorder or who have undergone gastric bypass surgery. Whole genome sequencing is underway to better understand the genetic alterations associated with many of the medical conditions and symptoms associated with Ehlers Danlos syndrome hypermobility type III. Studies are being initiated to develop LED technology that has been demonstrated to efficiently produce vitamin D in the skin for the treatment of intestinal malabsorption syndromes.