C. David Molina Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and International Health

Research Interests:

• Cardiovascular disease
• Kidney disease
• Hypertension
• Blood pressure
• Nutrition
• Obesity
• Lifestyle modification
• Behavioral interventions
• Fall prevention
• Clinical trials
• Global prevention and control of non-communicable diseases

Lawrence “Larry” Appel is the C. David Molina Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and International Health and the former director of the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology, and Clinical Research, a joint program of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Bloomberg School of Public Health. The focus of his career is the conduct of research pertaining to the prevention and control of high blood pressure, cardiovascular-kidney diseases, and other chronic conditions. His principal lines of research are fourfold:

• Behavioral intervention trials, which test novel strategies to accomplish lifestyle modification, often focused on obesity and healthy eating. Most recently, Appel, together with Kimia Ghobadi, secured funding for an Amazon-funded project, “Development of a scalable, AI-powered, preference-aware, decision-support system to promote healthy eating”;
• Controlled feeding trials, such as the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) trial, which test optimal dietary strategies to lower blood pressure and cardiovascular risk;
• Trials and observational studies, which identify risk factors for the progression of chronic kidney disease and its complications; and
• Global translational efforts to prevent and control hypertension—specifically, Resolve to Save Lives, which takes a systems-level approach to identify pragmatic, scalable solutions such as team-based care.

A prominent feature of Appel’s research is its focus on conditions that disproportionally afflict minorities and on interventions that have the potential to reduce racial disparities in health. In the process of conducting clinical trials, cohort studies, systematics reviews, meta-analyses, and modeling studies, Appel has mentored numerous trainees.

He has also been actively involved in shaping healthcare policy, acting as a member of the 2005 and 2010 U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committees and chairing the American Heart Association’s Nutrition Committee and its Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health. Appel has also served on several National Institutes of Health and National Academy of Medicine committees and chaired the committee that set dietary reference intakes for sodium, potassium, and water.  Among his honors are his membership in the Association of American Physicians and the National Academy of Medicine.