The 2025 VDW will comprehensively explore the biological actions of vitamin D in bone, kidney, pregnancy and the immune system. Outcomes of large scale, long term supplementation trials, including VDAART, VITAL and GRAVITD, will be presented by their lead investigators. Additional sessions will highlight the potential impacts of vitamin D status on cancer, neurophysiology and cardiometabolic disease.   

Session 1: Plenary Overviews

Chairs,

Basic/Translational Research (~30 min): Margherita Cantorna, Pennsylvania State University, USA. Forty years later: Why do immune cells have vitamin D receptors? 

Clinical Update (~30 min): JoAnn Manson, Harvard Medical School, USA The VITAL Trial 

Session 2: Vitamin D: Immunology

Chair, Martin Hewison

Patricio Artusa, McGill University, Canada: Vitamin D signaling in the thymus: Implications for autoimmunity

Scott T. Weiss, Harvard Medical School, USA: The genomics of vitamin D and Asthma

Session 3: Vitamin D and Cancer

Chair, JoEllen Welsh

Gilles Laverny, IGBMC, France: New insights into vitamin D signaling in prostate cancer

Custodia Garcia, King Juan Carlos University, Spain: Vitamin D and SIRT1: An Epigenetic Twist at the Crossroad of Diabetes and Colon Cancer

Session 4: Vitamin D and Pregnancy

Chairs, Carlos Bernal Mizrahi, Augusto A Litonjua

Anna Louise Vestergaard, Aarhus University, Denmark: Vitamin D Supplementation on Placental Vitamin D Metabolism and Neonatal Vitamin D Status. GRAVITD trial

Carol Wagner, Medical University of South Carolina, USA: Revisiting the vitamin D needs of the pregnant woman: Deciphering fact from
fiction
Session 5: Vitamin D and Post-Pregnancy
Chair, Carol Wagner
Carmen Reynolds, Mayo Clinic, USA: New considerations for the sulfated vitamin D metabolites in milk

Augusto A Litonjua, University of Rochester Medical Center, USA: The 15-year results of the VDAART trial

Session 6: Vitamin D and Bone

Chair, David Goltzman

Chris Kovacs: Calcitriol and Fetal Mineral Homeostasis: Less is Better Than More

Jim Fleet, University of Texas, USA: Vitamin D-mediated regulation of bone mineralization

Session 7: Vitamin D and Metabolism

Chair,

Inez Schoenmakers, University of East Anglia, UK: Alterations of vitamin D metabolism and requirements in clinical conditions and critical illness

Dylan Thompson, University of Bath, UK: Exercise - A unique role in vitamin D metabolism and status

Session 8: Vitamin D and Cardiometabolic Diseases

Chair

Anastassios Pittas, Tufts University, USA: Vitamin D and Type 2 Diabetes

Carlos Bernal Mizrahi, Washington University, USA: Vitamin D Regulation of Immunity and Its Impact on Hypertension: Unraveling the Link

Session 9: Vitamin D and Neurophysiology

Chair, Carmen Reynolds

Ana Lucia Rodrigues, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil: Vitamin D in Major Depressive Disorder: Current Evidence, Possible Molecular Mechanisms, and Future Prospects.

Dr. Sha Sha, DKFZ German Cancer Research Center, Germany: Vitamin D and dementia - Results from the UK Biobank study

Session 10: Vitamin D Metabolites: What to Measure

Chair, Martin Kaufmann

Glenville Jones, Queen’s University, Canada: Is there a value to measuring other vitamin D metabolites besides 25-OH-D?

Annemieke C Heijboer, VU University Medical Center, The Netherlands: Vitamin D: Analytical Advances, Clinical Impact, and Ongoing Debates on Health Perspectives via Zoom

Session 11: Genomic Actions of vitamin D.

Chair, John White

Ken White, Indiana University, USA: Genomic control of vitamin D metabolism by FGF23, evidence at the single cell level

Mark B. Meyer, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA: Cyp24a1 genomic architecture dictates tissue specific control

Session 12: Vitamin D and Kidney Physiology

Chair,

Myles Wolf, Weill-Cornell Medicine, USA: Intestinal Cyp24a1 regulates vitamin D locally independent of systemic regulation by renal Cyp24a1 in mice.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Early Career Investigator Lunch & Learn Session.

Improve your pitch: Positioning vitamin D research to appeal to grant review panels.

Chair: Carmen Reynolds

Panel: TBD

Early Career Investigator Networking Social.

Following the Welcome Reception, graduate students, post docs, and early-stage investigators are invited to [Location TBD] to perk up their networking skills.

 

Margherita Cantorna, Pennsylvania State University, USA
JoAnn Manson, Harvard Medical School, USA
Patricio Artusa, McGill University, Canada
Scott T. Weiss, Harvard Medical School, USA
Gilles Laverny, IGBMC, France 
Custodia Garcia, King Juan Carlos University, Spain
Anna Louise Vestergaard, Aarhus University, Denmark 
Carol Wagner, Medical University of South Carolina, USA
Carmen Reynolds, Mayo Clinic, USA  
Augusto A Litonjua, University of Rochester Medical Center, USA
Chris Kovacs, Memorial University, Canada
Jim Fleet, University of Texas, USA 
Inez Schoenmakers, University of East Anglia, UK
Dylan Thompson, University of Bath, UK   
Anastassios Pittas, Tufts University, USA
Carlos Bernal-Mizrahi, Washington University, USA
Ana Lucia Rodrigues, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil 
Sha Sha, DKFZ German Cancer Research Center, Germany  
Glenville Jones, Queen’s University, Canada  
Annemieke Heijboer, VU University Medical Center,  The Netherlands
Ken White, Indiana University, USA   
Mark Meyer, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
Myles Wolf, Cornell University, USA