February 20, 2009
Division of Special Populations (DSP), NICHD
NIH Main Campus, Bethesda, Maryland
The purpose of this conference is to review the scope of vitamin D status on the burden of chronic disease. Perhaps the most important change experienced by people of color as they have populated the mid- and high latitudes is a decline in vitamin D status. Although poverty, inequalities, and the resultant stresses cannot be discounted, there is substantial evidence that this decline in vitamin D status contributes to the burden of chronic disease they bear. Dr. Robert P. Heaney (PDF - 1.27 MB), John A. Creighton University Professor, Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, reviews the scope of the effects of vitamin D status on chronic disease burden and the status of the evidence to date. Dr. Heaney is an internationally recognized expert in the field of bone biology and calcium nutrition, has worked for more than 50 years in the study of osteoporosis and calcium physiology, and has published more than 400 papers, chapters, and monographs. In 2008, Dr. Heaney was named one of the first “Legends of Osteoporosis” by the National Osteoporosis Foundation for his extraordinary contributions to the scientific body of knowledge of bone biology and osteoporosis.
Dr. Regina James, DSP, NICHD
Tel: (301) 435-2692