Prof. Schölmerich studied in Freiburg and Heidelberg. His further qualification in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology was obtained in Freiburg. He was also a research fellow at the University of California at San Diego.

From 1991 until 2010 he was Director of the Department for Internal Medicine I at the University of Regensburg. He was vice president of the German Research Foundation (DFG) from 2005 until 2011 and president of the “German Association of Internal Medicine” (DGIM) 2009-2010. From 2010 until 2016 he was Medical Director and CEO of the Hospital of Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt.

His research interests were: inflammatory bowel disease, complications of Liver cirrhosis and bile acid metabolism and effects.

He has published 93 monographs and chapters in teaching and reference books, he is editor or coeditor of 50 books, and his citations exceed 18,000.