Dr. Larry Appel to Lead Welch Center

Lawrence Appel, MD, MPH, has been selected to lead the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research. Appel is professor of Medicine in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and professor with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s departments of Epidemiology and International Health.

Appel is a pioneer who has conducted definitive clinical trials in hypertension, diabetes, nutritional supplements and obesity. He has held numerous leadership positions in many national medical and public health organizations, including with the Institute of Medicine and the American Heart Association. A graduate of NYU School of Medicine, he previously served as chief medical resident at what is now Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Appel obtained his MPH degree and research training at Johns Hopkins where he joined the faculty in 1989.

For the past 25 years, the Welch Center has been managed jointly by the schools of Medicine and Public Health and by the departments of Medicine and Epidemiology. The Center is named in honor of the late William Henry Welch who founded the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1916 and served as dean of the School of Medicine.

Appel’s appointment was made jointly by Myron Weisfeldt, MD, chair of the Department of Medicine, and David Celentano, ScD, MHS, the Charles Armstrong Chair and Professor of the Department of Epidemiology, along with Edward Miller, MD, and Michael J. Klag, MD, MPH, the deans of the School of Medicine and the Bloomberg School of Public Health. 

Appel will take over for Fred Brancati, MD, MHS, head of the Division of General Internal Medicine, who served as interim director of the Welch Center following the departure of Neil Powe, MD, MPH, MBA.