Holly Ann Ingraham (born 1952) is an American physiologist who is the Herzstein Professor of Molecular Physiology at the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

. She studies women's health, in particular, sex-dependent central regulation of female metabolism and physiology. She was Elected to the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

in 2012, the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 2019, and the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

in 2021.

Early life and education

Ingraham grew up in

Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...

. As a child she was gifted a

Bausch & Lomb Bausch & Lomb (since 2010 stylized as Bausch + Lomb) is an American-Canadian eye health products company based in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the world's largest suppliers of contact lenses, lens care products, pharmaceuticals, intra ...

microscope and spent her spare time investigating all the objects she could find close to her home. She started her scientific career as an undergraduate student at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

(UCSD), where she majored in biology and psychology. Ingraham earned her doctorate at UCSD.

Research and career

Ingraham studies hormone-responsive nodes in the brain. In particular, she is interested in

estrogen Estrogen (also spelled oestrogen in British English; see spelling differences) is a category of sex hormone responsible for the development and regulation of the female reproductive system and secondary sex characteristics. There are three ...

's signalling in the brain and how this impacts female metabolism. She has studied the influence of estrogen-sensitive brain cells on bone density. Over two million people suffer from

osteoporosis Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disorder characterized by low bone mass, micro-architectural deterioration of bone tissue leading to more porous bone, and consequent increase in Bone fracture, fracture risk. It is the most common reason f ...

, with post-menopausal women being particularly vulnerable to the condition. The declining levels of estrogen after menopause can cause bones to become increasingly porous and fragile. Ingraham manipulated neurons in the

hypothalamus The hypothalamus (: hypothalami; ) is a small part of the vertebrate brain that contains a number of nucleus (neuroanatomy), nuclei with a variety of functions. One of the most important functions is to link the nervous system to the endocrin ...

, and found that genetically deleting the estrogen receptor caused female animals to gain weight and become less active. She identified that these heavier mice had increases in bone density of up to 800%. Together with her collaborators, Ingraham investigated estrogen-sensitive brain cells in the

arcuate nucleus The arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus (ARH), or ARC, is also known as the infundibular nucleus to distinguish it from the arcuate nucleus of the medulla oblongata in the brainstem. The arcuate nucleus is an aggregation of neurons in the medio ...

, and proposed that estrogen typically signals these neurons to slow bone growth. By deleting these receptors, Ingraham showed that it was possible to reduce this shift. The same was not true in male mice, where manipulating the estrogen signalling had no impact. In female mice that were already suffering from osteoporosis, Ingraham showed that bone density could increase by around 50% in a few weeks. Ingraham has investigated other estrogen-sensitive neurons outside the hypothalamus and how declining health is associated with the depletion of hormones. Ingraham is interested in the development of the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus, the neuroendocrine centre of the brain. She identified that the

herbicide Herbicides (, ), also commonly known as weed killers, are substances used to control undesired plants, also known as weeds.EPA. February 201Pesticides Industry. Sales and Usage 2006 and 2007: Market Estimates. Summary in press releasMain page f ...

atrazine Atrazine ( ) is a Organochlorine compound, chlorinated herbicide of the triazine class. It is used to prevent pre-emergence broadleaf weeds in crops such as maize (corn), soybean and sugarcane and on turf, such as golf courses and residential law ...

can activate gene networks. Beyond the brain, Ingraham has studied sex-specific differences in gut-brain signalling pathways, in an effort to understand why women are more susceptible to intestinal

visceral pain Visceral pain is defined as pain that results from the activation of nociceptors of the thoracic, pelvic, or abdominal viscera (organs) in the human body. Visceral structures are highly sensitive to distension (stretch), ischemia and inflammation, ...

syndromes. Another primary focus of Ingraham's academic activities is directed towards the most vulnerable population in our nation's biomedical educational pipeline – women and minority postdoctoral fellows. As such, she serves as the director of th
NIGMS-IRACDA Program at UCSF
which provides a cohort of 15–20 scholars with individualized mentoring and career development plans for future success at R1 and R3 institutions.

Awards and honors

* 2002 Brook Byers Basic Science Award * 2006 Herzstein Distinguished Investigator in Molecular Physiology * 2012 Elected to the

* 2017 Chancellor's Award Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Award * 2018 Joseph Larner Memorial Lecture in Pharmacology * 2019 Elected to the

* 2021 Elected to the

Personal life

Ingraham is married to

David Julius David Jay Julius (born November 4, 1955) is an American physiologist and Nobel Prize laureate known for his work on molecular mechanisms of pain sensation and heat, including the characterization of the TRPV1 and TRPM8 receptors that detect cap ...

, professor and chair of physiology at UCSF and winner of 2021

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, acco ...

. She and David Julius have a son.

Selected publications

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ingraham, Holly Ann Living people University of California, San Francisco alumni American physiologists Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences University of California, San Francisco faculty 21st-century American women scientists American women physiologists 1952 births