It’s not often that you hear about an accomplished, mainstream trauma surgeon getting laughed at by his colleagues after presenting an innovative health idea. It is even less often that a doctor receiving that kind of response would admit to the laughter and even take it with a smile. But in the case of Dr. L. Ray Matthews, an assistant professor of surgery at Morehouse School of Medicine and the Surgical Critical Care Director at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, he would also end up winning over those other surgeons who were skeptical of his cutting-edge thinking.

Now, you might be wondering, what was this radical idea that caused so much skepticism? It was simple: Dr. Matthews believed in the incredible healing power of vitamin D.

“People always ask me about how a surgeon could get involved in vitamin D research,” Dr. Matthews says. “My answer is that being a surgeon, I’m very interested in wound infections and getting patients off of ventilators. I’m interested in helping my patients heal faster, and I want to decrease the incidence of pneumonia. Essentially, I want my patients healthy and out of the hospital as quickly as possible.”