Executive Director for Research
Providence Inland Northwest Health,
and Professor of Medicine, Division of Nephrology and Kidney Research Institute
University of Washington School of Medicine
Katherine Tuttle, MD, FASN, FACP, FNKF, had received her medical degree and completed her residency training at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago when she came to WashU Medicine as a fellow in endocrinology and metabolism and started delving into the field of diabetes and chronic kidney diseases (CKDs).
“My career began there under the tutelage of Dr. Philip Cryer in 1985-1986 and I became interested in understanding the major complications of diabetes,” she says. She remembers that Donald Kohan, MD, PhD, and Brad Rovin, MD were nephrology fellows at the same time who were researching similar pathways, Dr. Rovin focusing on glomerular diseases and Dr. Kohan researching endothelin receptor antagonists in diabetic and non-diabetic chronic kidney disease. Conversations and interests led Dr. Tuttle to go on to nephrology fellowships at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. She joined the nephrology clinical and research faculty and remained there for four years before an opportunity came up to join the faculty at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Spokane, WA.
“I grew up in Idaho and Eastern Washington, but was away for many years during college, medical school, residency, fellowships, and my early faculty appointment,” says Dr. Tuttle. “During that time, I looked forward to returning home to this area. I was fortunate to find an academic position here that allowed me to pursue a rewarding career path.”
In the nearly four decades since she left WashU, Dr. Tuttle has studied kidney disease and diabetes across the full translational arc from discovery science to clinical trials and population health. Early in her career, she published groundbreaking research elucidating physiological principles underlying glomerular hyperfiltration in humans with diabetes, which subsequently led to more studies that pointed to new therapeutic targets to treat the disease. “I have seen that work to the finish line over more than three decades to help deliver SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists as highly impactful therapies to reduce risks of kidney failure, cardiovascular events, and death in persons with and without diabetes,” notes Dr. Tuttle. “I also have been a leading investigator across the translational arc for other breakthrough therapies, including next generation incretin, anti-inflammatory, and aldosterone classes of agents.”
Now as Executive Director for Research at Providence Inland Northwest Health, a large health system in Eastern Washington, she oversees a widespread clinical and translational research program. There, she leads the Center for Kidney Disease Research, Education and Hope (CURE-CKD) Registry, a collaboration with the University of California-Los Angeles, that collects electronic health record data to study symptoms, prevalence, risk factors, and treatment of CKD in both adults and children. In her role as an internationally recognized physician-scientist, she works tirelessly to advocate and advance research that can translate into novel treatments for diabetes and kidney diseases. Currently she is Chair of the Diabetic Kidney Disease Collaborative for the American Society of Nephrology (ASN). She also served on the inaugural Board of Directors for the ASN’s Kidney Health Initiative, which focuses on innovation and development of safe, effective therapies for people with kidney diseases. For her outstanding research and advocacy efforts, Dr. Tuttle has received the ASN’s John P. Peters Lifetime Achievement Award and the National Kidney Foundation’s Garabed Eknoyan Award. Recognized as an outstanding educator and clinician, she also is the recipient of Outstanding Clinical Faculty Awards from the University of Washington.
She maintains a strong friendship with WashU endocrinologist and diabetes researcher Janet McGill, MD, MA, FACE, FACP, who she has known since her first year of fellowship in St. Louis and connects with various WashU alumni and faculty at conferences when she can. In her leisure time, she and her husband, cardiologist Andrew Boulet, MD, enjoy skiing, running, yoga and gardening. Their daughter has merged neuroscience with health and wellness and is developing programs for patients with Parkinson’s disease and other movement-based disorders. She adds with a laugh, “My husband is originally from New Orleans, and he fancies himself as an expert Cajun chef! We have many good dinners as a result!”