Lawrence J. Cheskin, MD directs the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center, a multidisciplinary clinical research and treatment program that he founded in 1990. He is Associate Professor of Health, Behavior & Society at the School of Public Health, with joint appointments in International Health (Human Nutrition), in Medicine (Gastroenterology) at the School of Medicine, and in Public Health Studies at Homewood. He is also Co-Associate Director of the Johns Hopkins Global Center on Childhood Obesity.

In his research, Dr. Cheskin studies the effectiveness of various lifestyle and dietary changes in weight loss and weight maintenance.  He has experience in design and implementation of controlled clinical trials and laboratory studies of different diet techniques, as well as individual and community-based interventions, including among underserved residents of inner-city Baltimore and suburban Baltimore.  His background and experience is broad, ranging from basic science work on dopamine genetics, to work on preventing childhood obesity through the Johns Hopkins Global Center on Childhood Obesity, where he also directs the Rapid Response Project Core, which evaluates timely systems-focused proposals worldwide to study such areas as school policies and the built environment’s effect on factors relevant to preventing childhood obesity.  He has 110 peer reviewed publications, has written 6 books, and is frequently cited in the media on issues related to obesity and dieting.