Adrian F. Gombart

Professor at Oregon State University and principal investigator at the Linus Pauling Institute. His work established that the human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide gene is a direct target of the vitamin D receptor, providing a molecular basis for the long-observed relation between vitamin D status and susceptibility to infection.

Why he matters here

Gombart’s line of work is a template for what this resource insists on in All Medicine Is Preventive: that classical reference intakes are calibrated to endpoints of acute deficiency (rickets, in the case of vitamin D) and not to the endpoints for which the nutrient is actually needed across the immune, metabolic and skeletal systems.