One of the world’s leading sensible sunlight advocates — asked to vacate his position in the Boston University Dermatology Department for what that department chair called being “an embarrassment to this institution” for his views — has received yet another national award.

Michael F. Holick, PhD, MD, a professor at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), is the recipient of the 2010 Van Slyke Award from the American Academy for Clinical Chemistry New York Metro Section. The award acknowledges outstanding contributions to the science of clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine.

Holick, an internationally renowned expert in vitamin D and skin research, was chosen to receive the award for his seminal contributions to laboratory medicine. He is a professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics, and director of the General Clinical Research Unit at BUSM and Director of the Bone Health Care Clinic at Boston Medical Center.

Since joining BUSM in 1987 Holick has initiated several successful clinical research programs. He helped pioneer the assays for vitamin D and its metabolites which are used worldwide to determine a patient’s vitamin D status and to evaluate disorders of calcium and bone metabolism. He helped establish global recommendations for sensible sun exposure and vitamin D intake for children and adults. His psoriasis work with active vitamin D is considered to be at the forefront of research into the complex disease. The results of his programs have led to significant contributions to the basic science of vitamin D and significant new therapies for a wide variety of medical problems.

Holick has received numerous honors and awards including the Psoriasis Research Achievement Award from the American Skin Association in 2000, the Robert H. Herman Memorial Award in Clinical Nutrition from the American Society for Clinical Nutrition in 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 DSM Innovation Award for international nutrition and the Linus Pauling prize for his contributions in human nutrition.

Dermatology Department Chair Dr. Barbara Gilchrest called Holick’s work “schlock science” when she asked him to resign from the dermatology department in 2004. Holick stepped down from dermatology department, but remained active in many other departments at Boston University. His work is widely accepted in academia today.