Lawrence J. Cheskin, MD, FACP, FTOS is Associate Professor, Health, Behavior & Society at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, with joint appointments in Medicine (GI); International Health (Human Nutrition), Nursing, and Public Health Studies. He directs the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center, a multidisciplinary clinical research and treatment program he founded. He is also Director of Clinical Research of the Global Obesity Prevention Center at Johns Hopkins, and directs its Pilot Studies Core, which evaluates timely, systems-focused proposals worldwide to study such areas as school policies and the built environment’s effect in preventing childhood obesity.
Dr. Cheskin’s work is at the intersection of public health and clinical medicine: applying knowledge gained through rigorous clinical investigation to the community and beyond. His work has impacted the problem of obesity through innovative treatment paradigms disseminated through practice (as modeled by the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center); through application of new treatment paradigms in community-based participatory research, particularly among the underserved in Baltimore, Maryland; and through mentoring of the next generation of public health and clinical scholars dedicated to obesity.
Most recently, he is co-Principal Investigator of a project to develop obesity prevention and treatment strategies under contract with the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. He is also developing the use of mHealth as a tool to enhance obesity treatment for patients, and enhance practitioners’ adherence to guidelines for treatment of obesity.
He has over 175 peer-reviewed journal publications, and has written 6 books.