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2026 CMHC Annual Main banner

Lawrence Appel, MD, MPH (he/him/his)

Professor
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
Ellicott City, Maryland, United States

Lawrence J Appel, MD, MPH is the C. David Molina Professor of Medicine and Past 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.

Dr. Appel is a general internist and clinician-scientist who holds a primary appointment in the Department of Medicine with joint appointments in Epidemiology, International Health, and Nursing. 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:
• controlled feeding trials, such as the DASH and DASH4D trials, which test optimal dietary strategies to lower blood pressure and cardiovascular risk;
• behavioral intervention trials, such as the PREMIER and POWER trials, which test novel strategies to accomplish lifestyle modification;
• trials and observational studies, such as AASK and CRIC, which identify risk factors for the progression of chronic kidney disease and its complications;
• 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.
The types of research that Dr. Appel has conducted include clinical trials, cohort studies, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and modeling studies. He is a prolific scientist with >700 publications, cited >200,000 times (Google Scholar, 6/16/26). In addition to his research, Dr. Appel has also been actively involved in shaping health care policy. He was a member of the 2005 and 2010 U.S. Dietary Guidelines Scientific Advisory Committees. For the American Heart Association, he has chaired its Nutrition Committee and its Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health. He has served on several NIH and Institute of Medicine Committees and chaired the 2004 committee that set dietary reference intakes for sodium, potassium, and water. His research accomplishments were recognized in 2012 when he was elected to the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine).

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