John.Batsis@unc.edu
919-966-5945
John A. Batsis, MD
CRC Medical Director, Associate Professor of Medicine
Dr. Batsis has dedicated his professional career to caring for older adults through clinical care, research and education. The privilege of helping older adults maximize their physical function and quality of life through patient-centered, compassionate care serves as a daily motivation in his work. His role as a clinician-researcher allows him to apply scientific principles of inquiry to enhance clinical care for an older adult population. Through learning and discovery, he aims to advance healthy aging by improving goal-directed care and healthcare delivery for older adults.
Dr. Batsis’s academic work focuses on three main areas: (a) understanding the relationships between obesity and sarcopenia (loss of muscle mass, strength and/or function with aging) and important outcomes for older adults; (b) developing multicomponent interventions (diet and exercise) to improve physical function in older adults; and (c) using novel technologies (telemedicine, remote monitoring, Internet-of-Things devices) and collaborating with transdisciplinary scientists (engineers and computer scientists) to improve the health and well-being of older adults.
Read: Dr. John Batsis Presents Keynote at AI Technology Center Consensus Guidelines Workshop
Read: Dr. Batsis Presents at American Diabetes Association Annual Meeting
Read: Dr. Batsis talks to Stat about new weight loss drugs
Watch: Dr Batsis – ‘Everyone has their own secret sauce’
Read: Doctors Assess Opportunities Gained, Lost through Medicare’s Annual Wellness Visits
Read: Batsis Discusses Five Common Medications That Can Cause Weight Gain
In the News
The Vitamin that Helps–and Hurts–Cancer
The Vitamin That Helps–and Hurts–Cancer[post_date]Madeline Childress joined the NRI in 2019 and began her docotral studies in the fall of 2020. She completed her undergraduate program at the...
Feeding Health with Intelligence featuring Deborah F. Tate, PhD
A new article written by Megan Mendenhall for UNC Research Stories explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming science—and how Carolina researchers are using it to improve human...
No More One-Size-Fits-All Diets: How Precision Nutrition Could Rewrite the Rules of Eating Right
Bryan Munoz, PhD, has a message for anyone who’s ever been tempted by the latest diet craze: be skeptical. “Let’s be honest, we’ve all heard it,” said Munoz, a research assistant in the Tate Lab at...
Easy Ways to Drink More Water
This article originally appeared on UNC Health Talk, July 2018. You might be tired of people telling you — or even telling yourself — that you have to drink more water. In recent years, staying...
Publications
2026
2025
The Relationship Between a Mediterranean Diet and Frailty in Older Adults: NHANES 2007-2017.
Changes in senescence markers after a weight loss intervention in older adults with obesity.
Editorial: Clinical uses and alternative approaches of frailty determination.
Tailoring Obesity Management to Support Physical Function in Older Adults.
Treating Sarcopenic Obesity in the Era of Incretin Therapies: Perspectives and Challenges.
New Drugs and Same Blind Spots-Rethinking Obesity Care in Later Life.

