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 Greatest Minds in Nutrition Call the NRI Home
The nation’s top researchers in science and health met from June 7-10 for Nutrition Live Online 2021, the American Society for Nutrition’s flagship conference. #NutritionLiveOnline brought together...
Con-grad-u-lations, Julie Hasken!
Congratulations to Julie Hasken, the Nutrition Research Institute’s newest PhD! Julie earned her doctorate from the UNC Chapel Hill Department of Nutrition in 2021 and is now a postdoctoral research...
How the 1982 National Champion Tar Heels Inspired New NRI Director Stephen Hursting, PhD
Stephen Hursting, PhD, can still remember visiting Carolina for the first time before beginning his graduate studies at UNC-Chapel Hill. “I came on a beautiful, sunny spring day. It was 1982 and UNC...
A legacy of precision nutrition
By Amanda Wicks University Communications UNC-Chapel Hill Image by Robert Singh Photography Dr. Steven Zeisel will be stepping down as the UNC Nutrition Research Institute’s director after 13...
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.




