Dr. Cantorna received her undergraduate degree in Chemistry from the University of Illinois and then her PhD in Medical Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Cantorna first became interested in vitamin D in 1996 when she used her expertise in Immunology to determine why cells of the immune system had vitamin D receptors. Dr. Cantorna established a physiological role for vitamin D in immune mediated diseases including multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease. Her work went on to demonstrate that the immune system requires vitamin D to resolve inflammation.