Professor Mason’s research program has developed over many years in the fields of bone and skin. The link between them is vitamin D, which is made in skin and is important in bone, but, as this research has discovered, important in skin for photoprotection as well. The link between bone and skin is Vitamin D. In particular, her group’s studies in skin have shown that the active vitamin D hormone is synthesised locally by melanoma cells and causes their differentiation. The group also showed for the first time that Vitamin D compounds formed in skin by the action of UV light contribute to endogenous photoprotection, including a reduction in DNA damage and UV-induced immunosuppression, through a reduction in nitric oxide products and an increase in p53 expression. Professor Mason has served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research and on National Health and Medical Research Council Grant Review Panels for Endocrinology and Reproduction and Musculoskeletal diseases. She is a member of the Technical Committee of the Commission Internationale de L’Eclairage (International Commission of Illumination) on Sunlight, Health and Vitamin D. She serves on a committee updating Clinical Guidelines for melanoma prevention and management for the National Health and Medical Research Council.

bone and mineral metabolism; osteoporosis; sun-protection