Laurence (Larry) H. Kedes (born July 19, 1937, died January 6, 2021) was an American scientist in the fields of gene expression, genomics, and cellular differentiation. His first faculty position was at Stanford University (1970-1989) where he rose to full professor in the Department of Medicine and focused on basic molecular biology and gene expression. In 1988, the University of Southern California (USC) recruited Kedes to spearhead a campus-wide initiative to strengthen their molecular biology and genetics research programs. At USC, Kedes conceived and developed the Institute of Genetic Medicine, becoming its founding director (1989-2008) as well as the William Keck Professor (1988-2009) and Chair (1988-2002) of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.