Lawrence J. Cheskin, MD

Dr. Cheskin is Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, Principal Investigator of the Mason Cohort: Health Starts Here study, and an adjunct professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.  He received his medical degree from Dartmouth, and postdoctoral training at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He was recently elevated to George Mason Distinguished University Professor, which is the highest achievement attainable for university faculty.

He has dedicated his career to research, education, and program building to enhance people’s diets and combat obesity. He founded the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center, a multidisciplinary clinical research and treatment program.  His work has impacted the problem of obesity through innovative treatment programs, and in community-based participatory research among the underserved in urban areas.  He also developed mHealth tailored to the behavioral characteristics of the recipient to combat obesity.

He is the author of ~250 peer-reviewed journal articles and 8 books.

Publication

• Has the prevalence of overweight, obesity and central obesity leveled off in the United States? Trends, patterns, disparities, and future projections for the obesity epidemic Y Wang, MA Beydoun, J Min, H Xue, LA Kaminsky, LJ Cheskin, International journal of epidemiology 49 (3), 810-23. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyz273
• Association between obesity and kidney disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis Y Wang, X Chen*, Y Song, B Caballero, LJ Cheskin, Kidney international 73 (1), 19-33. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ki.5002586
• Body weight and health care among women in the general population KR Fontaine, MS Faith, DB Allison, LJ Cheskin, Archives of family medicine 7 (4), 381.
• Weight change in the first 2 months of a lifestyle intervention predicts weight changes 8 years later, JL Unick, RH Neiberg, PE Hogan, LJ Cheskin, GR Dutton, R Jeffery, et al. Obesity 23 (7), 1353-6. https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.21112.
• Effectiveness of mobile health interventions on diabetes and obesity treatment and management: systematic review of systematic reviews, Y Wang, J Min, J Khuri, H Xue, B Xie, LA Kaminsky, LJ Cheskin JMIR mHealth and uHealth 8 (4), e15400. doi: 10.2196/15400.
• White paper AGA: POWER—practice guide on obesity and weight management, education, and resources A Acosta, S Streett, MD Kroh, LJ Cheskin, KH Saunders, M Kurian, Clinical gastroenterology and hepatology 15 (5), 631-649. e10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cgh.2016.10.023.
• A systematic review of childhood obesity in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region: prevalence and risk factors meta-analysis. NS Farrag, LJ Cheskin, MK Farag, Advances in pediatric research 4:8. doi: 10.12715/apr.2017.4.8.
• Tailored, interactive text messages for enhancing weight loss among African American adults: the TRIMM randomized controlled trial, M Lin*, Z Mahmooth*, N Dedhia, R Frutchey, CE Mercado*, DH Epstein, The American journal of medicine 128 (8), 896-904. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2015.03.013  
• Appearance vs health as motivators for weight loss. LJ Cheskin, LF Donze, JAMA 286 (17), 2160-2160. doi:10.1001/jama.286.17.2160-JMS1107-4-1.
• Methods for evaluating natural experiments in obesity: a systematic review WL Bennett, RF Wilson, A Zhang, E Tseng, EA Knapp, H Kharrazi, Annals of internal medicine 168 (11), 791-800.https://doi.org/10.7326/M18-0309.

Research Interest: 

• Obesity
• Nutrition
• Behavior change
• Exercise

Honors and Awards

• Physician Nutrition Specialist Award, American Society for Clinical Nutrition, 2004-2006.
• Listee, Who’s Who in America, 2010-date.
• Top Doctors: U.S. News & World Report, 2012- date. http://health.usnews.com/top-doctors/lawrence-cheskin-gastroenterologist-103CC000307.
• Top Doctors: Baltimore Magazine, 2018, 2022, 2023. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/about/awards/baltimore-top-doctors/general-medicine.html.

Professional Affiliations/Memberships

• Fellow, American College of Physicians, (FACP)
• Fellow, American College of Gastroenterology (FACG)
• Fellow, The Obesity Society (FTOS);
• Chair, Clinical Affairs Committee, 2011- 2013.
• Graduate and Professional Education Committee, American Society for Nutrition, 2009 – 2012.

Degrees

MD, medicine, Dartmouth Medical School