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Elsevier New Edition on Vitamin D Features Vitamin D Workshop eSymposia Speakers

Vitamin D, a critical player in bone health, is now emerging as an important aspect of many other physiological and disease processes. With a recent explosion in knowledge, we now know vitamin D to play important roles in immunity, susceptibility to infections disease, and even cancer development.

Given this ever-expanding body of knowledge, Elsevier is coming out with a new volume on Vitamin D to encompass these new discoveries and research directions. The new edition will cover everything from new tools and technologies enabling in depth studies of vitamin D, to clinical trials exploring vitamin D as treatment across wide range of ailments. They will draw heavily from the expertise represented at the upcoming Vitamin D Workshop eSymposia, which features many of the contributing authors as speakers.

JoEllen Welsh, Vitamin D Workshop eSymposia co-organizer, weighs in on this new edition:

“I’m really looking forward to Elsevier’s Fifth Edition of “Vitamin D” which will be spearheaded by new editors and include timely updates as well as several all-new chapters and contributors. With over 100 chapters, it will be THE most comprehensive textbook on Vitamin D Biology to date!”

 

Here we catch up with Dr. Martin Hewison, the editor-in-chief of the new Vitamin D edition, for a sneak peek into the new book and an overview of the current state of the field.


Catch up with Dr. Hewison virtually during the Meet-the-Editors panel at the meeting!


Exclusive KSQA Interview with Dr. Martin Hewison

Editor-in-Chief of the Upcoming New Edition on Vitamin D from Elsevier

Why publish a 5th edition of the Vitamin D book now?

In the last year vitamin D has been in the public eye more than ever. The new book will remind the reader of the scientific foundations behind the public image of vitamin D, by comprehensively detailing our current understanding of the fundamentals of vitamin D biology and its impact on human health.

Since the first edition, the book has become significantly bigger to reflect the growing body of research on vitamin D that now extends far beyond its original roots in mineral homeostasis and bone metabolism. 

A lot of information on vitamin D is available from online sources and published studies. So why go to a formal book to learn more about vitamin D?

This is a good point. There has been an explosion of interest in vitamin D over the last few years and this is reflected in the vast array of online material available to both researchers and the general public. However, these articles often have a very limited scope and rarely relate a topic to other facets of vitamin D health, or the basic mechanisms of vitamin D action.

The 5th edition of the vitamin D book will provide the reader with a one-stop resource that combines expert summary of everything on vitamin D from the molecular mode of action through to the impact of vitamin D on health advocacy. There will even be a chapter on vitamin D for the veterinarian!

How relevant is a book on vitamin D in the era of preprints and social media?

In the last two years there has been an exponential increase in the level of ‘information’ on vitamin D, including hundreds of new publications on vitamin D and Covid-19 alone. The vitamin D book provides a comprehensive reference work that will condense the most important observations for every facet of vitamin D research.

What new advances and research directions will be covered in the new edition?

The 5th edition of Vitamin D will include new chapters on:

  • Vitamin D's role in physiology and disease
    • the antiviral actions and Covid-19
    • rheumatoid arthritis
    • liver metabolism
    • alternative pathways for vitamin D metabolism
    • vitamin D from the veterinarian’s perspective
  • New tools and technologies to accelerate Vitamin D research
    • tissue imaging of vitamin D metabolites
    • bioinformatics tools to analyze transcriptomics of Vitamin D

However, the book will also include important updates in many of the core areas of vitamin D research that were central to the 4th edition, reflecting the changing perspectives on basic vitamin D biology and its applications to human health.

The new edition of the book will also include important updates on the many vitamin D supplementation trials that have been reported over the last five years. In a similar fashion, the 5th edition of the book will include companion chapters that present contrasting position statements on the current state of opinion on vitamin D – in the new edition there will be two chapters by different authors that present two different approaches to “Defining thresholds for vitamin D.”

Is there a link between the vitamin book and the Vitamin D Workshop?

There is no formal link, but the editorial team for the book are all regular attendees of the workshop and publishers of the book (Elsevier) have been previous sponsors of Vitamin D Workshop initiatives.

At the upcoming Keystone Vitamin D Workshop the book editors are keen to reach out to the meeting attendees to discuss any novel ideas or chapter topics for the book.

Who are the authors of the new edition who are also speaking at the upcoming eSymposia?

The 5th edition of Vitamin consists of over 100 chapters by over 150 authors from different facets of vitamin D research and from around the globe. Many of these authors will be attending the Vitamin D Workshop Keystone eSymposia, and several are presenting or moderating at the meeting. The 5th edition of Vitamin D will have a new editorial team – the previous Editors-in-Chief, Dr. David Feldman and Dr. Wes Pike, have now moved to advisory roles with Dr. Martin Hewison becoming the new Editor-in-Chief, supported by an editorial team of Dr. Roger Bouillon, Dr. Ed Giovanucci, Dr. David Goltzman, Dr. Mark Myer, and Dr JoEllen Welsh – all of whom will be attend the Keystone Vitamin D Workshop.

What else should audiences know?   

The editors of Vitamin D are keen to embrace any new developments in vitamin D research that are highlighted at the Vitamin D Workshop, in particular working with authors who are relatively new to the vitamin D field.

Dr. Hewison welcomes any opportunity to discuss novel innovative chapter suggestions with Workshop attendees during or after the meeting.

 

Speak with Dr. Martin Hewison about the new edition and advances in the field during the Meet the Editors Panel on October 14, at 5pm EST.

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Shannon Weiman
Shannon Weiman earned her PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of California, San Diego, specializing in microbiology and immunology. Prior to joining the Keystone Symposia team, she worked as a freelance writer for leaders in academic, industry and government research, including Stanford University’s Biomedical Innovation Initiative, the University of Colorado’s Biofrontiers Program, UCSF, the FDA and the American Society for Microbiology.