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
AFL@JWU Recipes – October 15, 2019
October 15, 2019 – Chef Megan Lambert, MS, RD, Senior Instructor in College of Culinary Arts at Johnson & Wales University, Charlotte, prepared Healthy Fall Soups & Stews recipes while Sarah Hreyo of the UNC Nutrition Research Institute, shared nutrition information on each recipe. The recipes from the October 15, 2019 Appetite For Life @ Johnson & Wales University program are available here for your cooking enjoyment!
September AFL Program Recap: “Good Bowls: A social venture to improve healthy food access”
September 25, 2019 – If you missed September’s Appetite for Life presentation by Alice Ammerman, DrPH, you can catch up. Watch the entire program on video now. The live presentation took place at the Rowan-Cabarrus Community College Biotechnology Training Center in Kannapolis on Wednesday, September 18, 2019.
Hursting moves into 16th year of Breast Cancer Research Foundation grant
September 17, 2019 – “Our work has evolved from asking Is obesity increasing cancer risk? and What are the mechanisms linking obesity and cancer?” he says. “We have largely answered the first question and are still working on the second, but our focus really has turned to What are we going to do about it?”
Choline must be integrated into the prenatal supplement regimen, says expert review
This article was published originally on nutraingredients-usa.com on September 11, 2019. By Stephen Daniels The importance of choline during the first 1,000 days after conception is increasingly...
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.