Dr. Michael Holick is a distinguished endocrinologist and internationally recognized authority on vitamin D research and metabolic bone diseases. He currently serves as Professor of Medicine, Physiology and Biophysics at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine where he holds multiple leadership roles including Director of the Vitamin D, Skin and Bone Research Laboratory and Director of the Ehlers Danlos Clinical Research Program. After earning both his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and M.D. from the University of Wisconsin, he completed his residency in medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, establishing a career that has spanned over four decades of clinical and research excellence. Formerly serving as Chief of Endocrinology, Nutrition and Diabetes at Boston Medical Center, Dr. Holick has built one of the most comprehensive metabolic bone disease practices in the country, treating more than 25,000 patients with various bone disorders throughout his career.
Dr. Holick's groundbreaking research has fundamentally advanced our understanding of vitamin D metabolism, most notably through his identification of both calcidiol, the major circulating form of vitamin D, and calcitriol, the active form of vitamin D, which has provided the scientific foundation for diagnostic tests and therapeutic approaches to vitamin D-related diseases. His extensive work in the biochemistry, physiology, metabolism, and photobiology of vitamin D has reshaped clinical practice guidelines worldwide and established critical parameters for vitamin D deficiency diagnosis and treatment. With clinical experience spanning thousands of cases, he has personally evaluated or followed more than 3,000 infants, children and adults with various forms of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, creating one of the largest clinical databases for these rare connective tissue disorders. His research has directly influenced NASA's protocols for maintaining astronaut bone health during space missions, demonstrating the far-reaching impact of his work beyond terrestrial medicine.
Beyond his research achievements, Dr. Holick has served as chair of NASA's Research Committee on Human Health and Performance for bone health of astronauts for over 30 years, providing critical expertise that has shaped space medicine protocols for multiple generations of space exploration. As editor-in-chief of the medical journal Clinical Laboratory and chair of the Endocrine Practice Guidelines Committee for Vitamin D, he continues to shape the intellectual direction of his field through rigorous scientific stewardship and evidence-based practice standards. His laboratory remains at the forefront of vitamin D research, with recent publications in 2025 exploring innovative approaches to enhance serum vitamin D concentrations and investigating vitamin D metabolism in human adipocytes, demonstrating his ongoing commitment to advancing scientific understanding. Dr. Holick's enduring legacy as both a clinician-scientist and thought leader continues to influence medical practice globally, with his work serving as the gold standard for vitamin D research and clinical application well into the 21st century.
