Elizabeth Rita Volkmann MD, MS

Dr. Elizabeth Volkmann is the Director of the UCLA Scleroderma Program and the founder and Co-Director of the UCLA Connective Tissue Disease-Related Interstitial Lung Disease (CTD-ILD) Program. She is an internationally recognized expert in systemic sclerosis and connective tissue disease-related interstitial lung disease.

Board-certified in both Internal Medicine and Rheumatology, Dr. Volkmann graduated from Pomona College, where she majored in Neuroscience and minored in Dance. She received her medical degree from the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and subsequently completed her residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Rheumatology at UCLA. During her fellowship, she participated in the Specialty Training and Advanced Research (STAR) Program and earned her Master of Science degree in Clinical Research. Dr. Volkmann cares deeply about the welfare of her patients and seeks to empower them on their healing journey with traditional, as well as holistic treatment approaches. She works closely with other specialists to develop comprehensive and personalized care plans that are unique for each patient.

Dr. Volkmann is also an active clinical and translational researcher in systemic sclerosis and interstitial lung disease. Her research focuses on discovering novel biomarkers that can be used to predict whether someone will improve on a specific therapy. She led the first study to investigate the gut microbiome in patients with systemic sclerosis and now leads an international consortium of investigators dedicated to understanding how the gut microbiome contributes to inflammation and clinical symptoms in patients with systemic sclerosis. She also participates in clinical trials to help identify new therapies for patients with autoimmune diseases.