Michael F. Holick, MD, PhD

Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Dr. Holick has made numerous contributions to the field of the biochemistry, physiology, metabolism, and photobiology of vitamin D for human nutrition. Dr. Holick has established global recommendations advising sunlight exposure as an integral source of vitamin D. He has helped increase awareness in the pediatric and medical communities regarding vitamin D deficiency pandemic, and its role in causing not only metabolic bone disease, and osteoporosis in adults, but increasing risk of children and adults developing preeclampsia, common deadly cancers, schizophrenia, infectious diseases including TB and influenza, autoimmune diseases including type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis, type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease.

Dr. Holick is a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine, a Fellow of the American College of Nutrition, and a member of the American Association of Physicians. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the General Clinical Research Centers Program Award for Excellence in Clinical Research from NIH, American College of Nutrition’s Communication Media Award, Best Docs in America, the Linus Pauling Functional Medicine Award from the Institute for Functional Medicine and the Linus Pauling Prize for Human Nutrition. Dr. Holick serves on a number of national committees and editorial boards and has organized and/or co-chaired several international symposia. He served as the chair for the Endocrine Society’s Practice Guidelines on Vitamin D. He has authored more than 400 peer-reviewed publications, and written more than 200 review articles, as well as numerous book chapters. He has acted as editor and/or co-editor on 13 books, and has written The UV Advantage in 2004 and The Vitamin D Solution in 2010 and helped develop the dminder.info app.

Publications

  • Published 8/1/2025

    Shirvani A, Holick MF. Effectiveness of SOLIUS UVB Light System in Enhancing Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Concentrations: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Anticancer Res. 2025 Aug; 45(8):3327-3339. PMID: 40750396.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 7/7/2025

    Pludowski P, Wójcik M, Jaworski M, Ochocinska A, Grant WB, Holick MF. Least Significant Change (LSC) for Serum Concentrations of 25-Hydroxyvitamin D. Nutrients. 2025 Jul 07; 17(13). PMID: 40647349.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 6/25/2025

    Uçar N, Pickering RT, Mueller PM, Deeney JT, Morales Suárez-Varela M, Soriano JM, Holick MF. Vitamin D3, 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3, and 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 Uptake in Cultured Human Mature Adipocytes. Nutrients. 2025 Jun 25; 17(13). PMID: 40647210.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 5/21/2025

    Alansari K, Davidson BL, Holick MF. A randomized comparison of intramuscular high-dose versus oral maintenance vitamin D to prevent severe exacerbations in deficient/insufficient asthmatic children. J Allergy Clin Immunol Glob. 2025 Aug; 4(3):100497. PMID: 40529482.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 2/22/2025

    Nikooyeh B, Holick MF, Abdollahi Z, Rasekhi H, Amini M, Ghodsi D, Yari Z, Rabiei S, Kalayi A, Zahedirad M, Yazdani H, Rismanchi M, Neyestani TR. Effectiveness and Potential Toxicity of Bread Fortification With Vitamin D in General Population: A Predictive Modeling Study. J Nutr. 2025 Apr; 155(4):1268-1277. PMID: 39993476.

    Read at: PubMed

Other Positions

  • Professor, Pharmacology, Physiology & Biophysics
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
  • Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research
    Boston University
  • Graduate Faculty (Primary Mentor of Grad Students)
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences
  • Director, General Clinical Research Unit
    Boston University Medical Campus
  • Director, Bone Health Care Clinic
    Boston Medical Center
  • Director of the Vitamin D, Skin and Bone Research Laboratory, Medicine
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Education

  • University of Wisconsin-Madison, MD
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison, PhD
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison, MS
  • Seton Hall University, BS