Holick Honored by The Endocrine Society

Michael F. Holick, PhD, MD, director of the General Clinical Research Center and professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics at BUSM, is this year’s recipient of The Delbert A. Fisher Research Scholar Award from the Endocrine Society for his scholarly work on the history of endocrinology. As recipient of this award, Holick delivered the Clark T. Sawin Memorial History of Endocrinology Lecture at ENDO 2011 recently held in Boston.

Founded in 1916, The Endocrine Society is the world’s oldest, largest, and most active organization devoted to research on hormones and the clinical practice of endocrinology. The Society works to foster a greater understanding of endocrinology amongst the general public and practitioners of complementary medical disciplines and to promote the interests of all endocrinologists at the national scientific research and health policy levels of government.

Holick is an internationally recognized expert in vitamin D and skin research. He has received numerous honors and awards including The American Society for Clinical Nutrition’s McCollum Award for his innovative research in the field of photobiology in 1994, and the Psoriasis Research Achievement Award, American Skin Association in 2000, the Robert H. Herman Memorial Award in Clinical Nutrition, American Society for Clinical Nutrition 2002, the General Clinical Research Centers Program Award for Excellence in Clinical Research in 2006, the 2007 Linus Pauling Functional Medicine Award from the Institute for Functional Medicine, the 2009 Linus Pauling Prize In Human Nutrition, the 2009 National American Menopause Society/Upsher-Smith Vitamin D Research Award, the 2009 DSM International Innovation In Nutrition Award and the 2010 Van Slyke Award from the New York section of the American Association Clinical Chemistry Society.

Holick chaired the Endocrine Society’s Endocrine Practice Guidelines Committee for a Vitamin D and presented to the membership of the Society in Boston on June 6 guidelines for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment for vitamin D deficiency. The report concluded that children and adults in the United States are at high risk for vitamin D deficiency and that this deficiency has serious health consequences. To prevent vitamin D deficiency it was recommended that children should be taking 600-1000 IU vitamin D supplement and adults 1500-2000 IU vitamin D supplement daily.