About Us

About the UCLA Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Program

The UCLA Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Program is a team of multidisciplinary providers including lung physicians, thoracic surgeons, advanced care providers, nurses, respiratory therapists, and research professionals who work together to provide cutting-edge diagnostics and treatment for patients affected by COPD and related conditions, like Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency (Alpha-1). We are a nationally-recognized referral center, and have been consistently rated one of the top centers both for lung care, and COPD care specifically, as ranked by U.S. News and World Report. The UCLA COPD Program works with primary care and other referring providers to coordinate expedient visits and to ensure strong continuity and coordination of care. We partner with local and national organizations to provide educational resources for patients and their families. Through both our research and clinical programs, we offer many state-of-the-art diagnostic and therapeutic techniques. Many of our physicians are national and international leaders in the ongoing efforts to better understand COPD and Alpha-1 and to shape future treatments.

UCLA is a national Alpha-1 Foundation Clinical Resource Center

The Alpha-1 Foundation has recognized UCLA as a Clinical Resource Center specializing in patient care, education, and research in Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency. We provide services for patients with both lung and liver disease related to this condition, and more information can be found here.

UCLA offers state-of-the-art treatments and lung transplantation

The UCLA COPD program is also a research center in multiple ongoing clinical and basic science research studies and as such has access to cutting edge technologies and treatments. In addition, we offer a comprehensive approach to current and former smokers with COPD or at risk of airway disease related to smoking. UCLA helps smoking cessation through dedicated programs and offers a state of art lung cancer screening program. In case of abnormal findings on chest imaging, our lung nodule clinic offers a team of experts which include pulmonologists, radiologists, interventional radiologists, interventional pulmonologists, thoracic surgeons and radiation oncoligists to offer comprehensive multispecialty approach to lung nodules and masses. For qualifying patients with advanced COPD, we are able to offer lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS), which may improve quality of life in patients with a specific type of COPD. In addition, UCLA is a nationally recognized lung transplant center, and our COPD program physicians work closely with the lung transplant team to evaluate and treat those who may benefit from transplantation.

Links and Resources:
COPD and Apha-1 Research Program
Alpha-1 Anti-trypsin Deficiency
Lung Volume Reduction Surgery Program
Lung Transplant Program