Dr. Katherine Tuttle, MD

Dr. Katherine R. Tuttle, MD is a kidney specialist (nephrologist) whose clinical practice is based in Spokane, Washington, at Providence, with an office at 105 West 8th Avenue. Her Seattle connection comes from her faculty appointment as Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She earned her medical degree from Northwestern University Medical School in 1982, completed residency at Northwestern, a fellowship in endocrinology and metabolism at Washington University in St. Louis, and a nephrology fellowship at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio.

Much of her work is in research. She serves as Executive Director for Research at Providence Inland Northwest Health and is a Co-Principal Investigator for the Institute of Translational Health Sciences, where she directs a network of 17 clinical research centers across a five-state region. Her research focuses on diabetic kidney disease, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

She has helped write national and international guidance on treating diabetes in people with kidney disease, including the 2022 joint consensus report from the American Diabetes Association and KDIGO. She chairs the American Society of Nephrology's Diabetic Kidney Disease Collaborative and has led or served on steering committees for numerous clinical trials. She has received the John P. Peters Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Nephrology and the Medal of Excellence from the American Association of Kidney Patients.

CMS Open Payments records for 2021 through 2025 list $293,275.69 across 212 records, mostly from drug companies that make diabetes and kidney medicines. Payments from industry to physicians are common and legal, and are often tied to research and consulting work.